Saving money, earning credit, and building strong educational foundations:
While many students feel as though taking AP classes are the only way to acquire college credit while in high school, a new program is allowing students to take advantage of their time at Camas to also acquire advanced learning as well as save money. On its second year at Camas High School, the Cornerstone Program, or most commonly known as the CWU Program, allows students to take college-level courses and earn credit for them after taking and passing an examination.
This option is a wonderful solution to gain college credit and save money on math courses, such as calculus, and an array of other courses. The CWU program also offers an alternative path for those who do not want to do the Running Start Program at Clark, or take AP classes, but would still like to gain credits that are transferrable to many accredited universities such as Central Washington University, and other colleges around the area.
To earn credit, students simply take and pass the class, and then pay $55 to take a final examination, rather than the $507 for the course in college. This is a huge savings and also allows students to get ahead, which is crucial, especially in courses such as math.
Julie Nidick, CHS Math teacher, feels like the CWU program is an “absolutely fantastic opportunity and a huge savings for students.” She also explains that the class is designed in a way that the curriculum is congruent to what she would normally teach in her day to day class. Julie also revealed that the pass rate in her classes on the test is extremely high, and grades are transferred to CWU.
Thus far, the CWU program is most prevalent in the math department, but administration hopes to expand to other areas of study, such as history, language, even science. This is a perfect solution for those students who don’t want to be removed from the school like they would be in Running Start, allowing these students to still obtain credit as well as be involved in student life at Camas.
Hopefully this program is able to develop and expand, as it appears to have a bright future in the Camas School District.