February 19, 2024 • 22 mins
🎙🎧 In this episode, Christine Sperelakis-Babb, Coordinator of College Readiness from Chesapeake Public Schools, and Holly Desteli of Tidewater Community College guide us through a better understanding of the dual enrollment program in Chesapeake Public Schools. They share how dual enrollment not only accelerates academic achievement but also paints a clearer path for students stepping into higher education. Make sure to listen today as they take us through the benefits of dual enrollment, from earning college credits to gaining a head start on career-focused certificates. 🎓 #InspireCPSÂ
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Amplify the Chesapeake Public Schools
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Chesapeake Schools is located in the Hampton Roads
area of southeastern Virginia.
We serve 40,000 students in 45schools and three centers.
This podcast is designed totell the stories behind our
story and to introduce andcelebrate the people and
programs that make us one of thepremier school districts in
Virginia.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hey Richie, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good man, good, I'm actually making it through the
winter.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because last time we spoke you
weren't kind of feeling well, Idon't think anybody likes how
the weather goes up and down.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Right, well, I do like it going up, I mean, we had
a couple of days it was 80.
Yeah, I know so that gave mehope.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I turned the AC on Hope Springs Eternal.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
You turned the AC on right.
I opened my windows.
Yeah, yeah, it was not in.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
January yeah, I know, you know.
One thing that's good is we getto go do some winter sports,
like I went skiing with ourfamily.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Oh yeah, we took the family skiing and it was
definitely funny.
Yeah, because I learned.
Actually, I'd never heard thisbefore because I don't ski, why
not?
I don't like it and so but Ilearned about French fries and
pizza Just from that story, Ithink.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I could ski.
I think you could.
I mean, it was definitely ascary moment in my life.
We took Leanna up and she didlike a couple of classes, not
like a professional class.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
We took a little class with us and then we were
like you know what, let's justget on the slope.
So we went, we took her and Iam halfway kind of down the
slopes of the mountain and mywife is kind of holding her and
helping her go down.
We're on the buddy slopes.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I mean this is not steep at all, right Right.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So she kind of lets her loose and she's like Matt,
you got to stop because she'scoming your way, and so she's
going full on, skis forward, andthat's what we call French
fries French fries.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
French fries and.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I'm yelling at her going pizza, pizza, so like the
tell me what do you think theother people on the slopes?
Thought they said they don'tdeliver out here.
I know right, they wereprobably like watch out.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Dad, you're going to get run over, which happens,
right yeah, right yeah.
But anyways, how about this asecond February episode?
I know we got a lot going on wedo we do.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I mean, we'll get into this, but we talked about
CTE month in our last episode,but also in that division of
college and career readiness wetalked about career readiness.
We're going to talk aboutcollege readiness today and some
of the dual enrollmentopportunities available to
people.
So it's a bonus episode.
February is a short month andyou get two episodes.
(02:40):
Who does that for you?
We do, we do.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
All right, here we are with Christine
Spurlakis-Babb, who's thecoordinator of college readiness
with Chesapeake Public Schools,and we also, on the phone, have
Holly Distelli, who is atTidewater Community College, as
the dual enrollment manager forthe Chesapeake campus.
Right, so we're here and we'rein the studio.
(03:09):
Actually, Holly is over thephone as we're doing this.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
She's over the phone and you know this has nothing to
do with dual enrollment, but wealways try to get to know our
guests some.
Why are you on the phone, holly?
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Hello everybody.
Thank you so much for having metoday, really appreciate it.
I'm on the phone because I'mexpecting my second child here
very soon, so I'm not able totravel as much these days.
So I am kind of workingremotely until this baby comes.
So I am here at my house and sohappy I can join you all this
(03:42):
morning over the phone and talkabout dual enrollment.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Fabulous, that's fabulous.
Do you know if it's a boy orgirl?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
We're having a baby girl.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Oh, okay, all right, you have a name, you have a name
, you have a name picked out,yet we do.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
We haven't released the masses yet.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Okay, all right.
Well, this is not the placethis is not the place to do it.
If you haven't told anybodybecause of our millions of
listeners, then everybody willknow.
Yeah, that's true, All right,so now, Chris, you have been and
you don't have to say how long,but you've been in the school
system for quite some time.
Tell us a little bit about yourbackground.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yes, I have been in the school system for quite a
while.
I was a teacher at Great BridgeHigh School, taught science,
moved into administration, wasonce an instructional specialist
and now I am the collegereadiness coordinator for
Chesapeake Public Schools.
All right.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I think a good place to start would be what is dual
enrollment?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Great question and dual enrollment are courses that
students can take while they'rein high school and they earn
dual credit.
They earn credit for highschool towards graduation and
they earn college credit fromTCC.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Okay, so obviously there's a benefit for the kids.
Holly, what's the benefit toTCC for doing the student
enrollment program?
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Well, it's a really great opportunity for us to
introduce high school studentsto these college classes right
there at their high school.
So it's for us to kind of likeeducate students on what it's
like to be enrolled in collegeclasses.
And for some students we try toencourage them to even come to
TCC after they finish their highschool to finish, maybe, a
(05:18):
program with us, if they arejust taking dual enrollment
courses with us.
So for us in the end wesometimes just get more
enrollments after high schoolgraduation, which is always a
wonderful thing.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Well, yeah, Christine .
What grade level are the dualenrollment courses being offered
?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
The majority of our dual enrollment courses are for
juniors and seniors.
We do occasionally have somesophomores enrolled as well.
And we have a variety ofcourses and programs.
We have things like advancedcybersecurity, auto body, we
have college composition, wehave US history, we have physics
, so some of our courses aretaught at the high school and
(05:55):
some of our courses are taughtat TCC.
We also have things likeWestern civilization,
electricity, just to name a few.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Wow.
So it's the whole gamut fromwhat we would call traditionally
academic or regular schoolclasses, but also a number of
career readiness.
We'll call it courses or trades.
Yeah right, Wow.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
We have a really great program set up with
Chesapeake Career Center throughour career and technical
education programs to helpstudents who might not
necessarily want to just go onand get a four-year degree after
high school but are reallyinterested in getting into a
trade and making money as soonas they can graduate from high
school.
And so we have severalopportunities through the
(06:35):
Chesapeake Career Center throughdual enrollment, where students
can get a certification in aspecific field and then go on
and start working in that fieldonce they finish the
certification.
That's awesome so it's not justabout those transfer classes
that do go on to a four-yearschool, but also focusing in on
those students who might justwant to get some hands-on
(06:56):
experience in the classroom andgo out and make money.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, so how does this work?
Does a student have to apply toTCC and be accepted, or can
they?
Because they're a ChesapeakePublic School student, they can
just sign up.
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
All right.
So students do schedule for thecourses.
They do have to apply for theprogram, they do have to be
accepted into TCC, and then theyalso request these courses
through our scheduling and haveto meet some minimum
requirements.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Yeah, and basically for those requirements, if a
student is looking to take oneof our career and technical
programs through the CareerCenter, those students just need
to have a minimum GPA of a 2.0or higher and be accepted into
the Chesapeake Career Center tobe part of those career
(07:42):
technical dual enrollmentopportunities.
Now, for students who arelooking to take classes that do
transfer on to a four-yearcollege university, such as
college composition, US history,Western civilizations, things
of that nature, pre-calculusphysics, they will need to make
sure they have at least a 3.0GPA to place into that program
(08:04):
and then, depending on if it's amath course or not, we would
look at different mathrequirements.
If they are trying to get intoa course that has either a math
placement requirement to it,such as math pre-calculus, or,
like physics for example, doeshave a math prerequisite built
into it For the most part, ifthey don't have the GPA, we can
(08:25):
look at standardized test scoressuch as the PSAT, SAT, ACT, and
if students still aren'tmeeting the measurements in
either of those categories, theycan always come to TCC and
schedule their placement test totake the placement test to
place into their course they'retrying to get into.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So there's a lot of ways.
It sounds like there's a realeffort to work to get kids into
the program if they areinterested in doing so.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
They're definitely.
Yes, we want to make sure wecan try to help these students
progress in whatever area thatthey're looking to do post-high
school, whether it go into atrades field or to just get a
jumpstart on those collegecredits.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Right.
So if I'm like a junior orsenior that's interested in this
program, what or who would Ineed to talk to to get this
conversation started to apply?
Speaker 3 (09:13):
First of all, when we start in the high school,
during scheduling we schedulefor the upcoming school year.
Usually in January and February, counselors do presentations.
I'll talk about dual enrollment, but if you have questions
about dual enrollment you canreach out to myself as a college
readiness coordinator, theguidance counselors directly in
the building Each high schoolhas a dual enrollment person in
their building and then, ofcourse, to Holly at TCC.
(09:33):
All of us can help guidestudents and answer questions.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Now it's been admittedly a very long time
since I was in college, but I doknow from my experience that if
you're getting, okay, thank youyeah okay, that's not get
specific.
If you don't get college credit, in my experience, unless
you're, you pay for it, unlessthere's some money involved.
So what's the cost for studentscoming into the student
(09:57):
enrollment program?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
So the cost right now for students to participate in
dual enrollment to get the dualcredit is $45 per credit hour
and students directly pay theschool For that.
They don't pay TCC, so they'lldirectly pay their school the
$45 per credit hour.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
That's relatively cheap.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
So then because the TCC tuition just went up.
We're like, oh yeah, this is somuch better yeah no kidding.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
So it's a money saving thing too for students.
Now if they're taken let's sayI'm taken, and you count the
number of college creditsthey're getting, not the number
of high school credits they'regetting right to determine that
cost.
So if I want to take, say,western civilization, how many
credits is that?
I mean, is that just one TCCcollege credit or is it three?
Speaker 4 (10:50):
It's three credits per semester.
So dual enrollment Westerncivilization which we offer at
Grassfield High School right now, that is a three credit hour
course and we actually havestudents take it as a year long
course.
So they're going to get threecredits in the fall for Western
civilizations one, and thenthree credits in the spring for
Western civilizations two.
(11:12):
So a total of six collegecredits.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Now and I heard you say that it's offered at
Grassfield High School Are therecertain things that if it's not
offered at one school that youcan still get involved in or
take, or if you're not at thatschool?
Speaker 3 (11:26):
We do have some high schools that offer courses, like
Deep Creek High School has thephysics, and then she mentioned
Western civilization atGrassfield, and so if students
can't take it at their homeschool, then they do have the
option.
Some courses are offeredthrough CVA and then also
through virtual Virginia.
So they have otheropportunities to take the dual
enrollment courses.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Right.
So even if it's not offered atthis school, they still have the
chance to take it.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
So now, obviously a course like electricity.
I mean, that's hands on, yougot to be there, right?
So?
But are these other courses?
Are there online options forthem, like Western Civ or
physics or any of those courses?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Okay, so currently CVA offers college composition
and US history dual enrollmentand again, when students sign up
it all depends on what thestudents schedule for each year.
So if we have enough studentssign up for a CVA dual
enrollment course, then thecourse makes we offer it
virtually but also virtual.
Virginia offers the dualenrollment courses.
So we have a lot of opportunity.
(12:23):
But each year it kind ofdepends what the students are
signing up for, like some of ourmore popular classes the
college composition in thesenior year and then also the US
history courses.
So it a lot just depends onwhat students are signing up for
each year.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
So do either of you have like a number of courses.
I'm just curious, just anoverall number of courses that
are offered as dual enrollmentcourses.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
I mean it's really when you include those career
and technical programs, becausethey're very robust.
Like we offer career studiescertificates in almost all of
those programs.
So students are graduating fromTCC and at high school with a
career studies certificate andsome type of certification to
(13:08):
make them eligible in thatindustry.
So there's a lot of classesinvolved with the career side.
When it comes to the moretransfer focused courses that we
offer, we have Englishcomposition, us history, western
civilizations, geology, physics.
I have teachers for tomorrowprograms.
(13:30):
I feel like I'm missing some.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Environmental science .
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Environmental science , really Environmental science,
yes, wow.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
All these courses are taught through the high school.
Oh okay At the high schoolwhich is really great.
They don't have to go anywhereif they're in classes, which is
really great because these arejust part of our courses, our
dual enrollment courses that weoffer at the high school.
They're taught by their highschool instructors Got you, who
are credentialed to teachcollege classes, so the students
(13:59):
don't even have to leave theirhigh school or in some cases
don't even have to leave theircomputer because they're taking
it through CBA and can justcomplete those requirements and
get college credits knocked out,while in high schools, I love
the example of a student whostarts as a junior and they are
doing US history their junioryear and then they decided to
(14:22):
college composition their senioryear and now that we're
offering pre-calculus, theycould be adding that either
junior or senior year, so theycould technically graduate from
high school with 15 credit hoursalready finished, which is
basically one semester's worthof classes.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Right, I mean I had a four year college.
That sounds awesome becauseagain I went to school those
first years or kind of justthose classes just to kind of
get you through like the 100level mass and things like that.
So you knock that outbeforehand.
I think that's a great thing.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And you find that the majority of these courses they
transfer right, I mean once youhave those TCC credits, yeah, so
now I know from some experiencethat there's at least one.
I remember we used to send theelectricity kids over to TCC
because we just didn't have thespace for it.
Is that?
Is that still the case?
And are there other classeswhere career center kids end up
(15:17):
going to the, going to thecampus?
Speaker 4 (15:19):
We do have students that are bust over from the
Chesapeake Career Center to comeon to our campus for their
coursework.
So Mechatronics is reallypopular program.
All of our Mechatronicsstudents come over to our campus
right across the street fromthe career center and
participate in their classesthere.
(15:39):
Electricity students do thesame thing.
Our emergency medicaltechnician program, the EMT
program, is housed over on ourcampus.
Basic machining, which is a newprogram this year and we're
hoping to have it continue togrow next year, but those basic
machining students will come toour campus as well.
So those are just some of theprograms that will come over
(16:02):
from the career center and be onour campus and use our spaces.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Okay, wow, and so is there a website or a place that
kids can go to see all theseoptions and get some of these
explanations?
Speaker 4 (16:16):
So our website at TCC kind of is more of like a
global approach to what dualenrollment is, but it has my
contact information on there and, honestly, the school
counselors in the dualenrollment points of contact in
each school counseling officehave a plethora of information
about ways that students can getstarted with dual enrollment
(16:38):
and just to help ask anyquestions that they might have.
I'm always a resource forstudents when I'm not on leave
and so, yeah, it was the.
If they have questions, theycan always reach out to their
school counselor.
Chris mentioned they can reachout to her, they can reach out
to me, because every schooldistrict has unique programs for
(17:00):
dual enrollment andunfortunately, it's not one
cookie cutter way of doing it.
Jess Beekville has one of themost expansive dual enrollment
programs and we have so much tooffer like you just can't put it
all out there on the website,unfortunately.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well, I want to let you know too.
So we have a new Canvas coursecalled College Readiness that
we're getting ready to roll outsoon.
That includes ways to get intodual enrollment, all the things
that kids need to be collegeready and career ready as they
graduate.
So it's for grades nine through12.
And also, too, ChesapeakePublic Schools will have a
college readiness website comingsoon as well.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Okay, great, All right.
Well, I have to say, Holly, mycuriosity's gotten the best of
me.
You have to tell me about yourdog.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Not at all not at all .
Speaker 4 (17:48):
I have two Coonhound pointer mixed puppies who are
just a year old Wow.
They love that mommy's homewith them right now.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
They love that Great they're in the work day.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
So, the fact that mama's home and they can be out
playing around and they love toplay with one another.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
That's awesome, that's great, and it sounds like
they want your attention.
So we appreciate you guyscoming in today.
Is there anything we left out?
Yes, there is.
Is there anything that you wantto share?
You want to get out there?
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Well, I did want to just kind of highlight two
special programs that we havethat are geared for students who
are looking to get the most outof their high school and dual
enrollment opportunity, andthey're two of our transfer
pathway programs.
We have two pathways thatstudents can choose between the
uniform certificate for generalstudies we call it the UCGS for
(18:39):
short which is 31 to 32 credithours of college classes that
students can complete.
They would start the programbeginning this summer of their
sophomore year and then theywould finish it up by their
senior year and they would havebasically half an associate's
degree already completed bydoing the UCGS.
(19:01):
So that's one transfer pathwaywe have.
And then the other one isactually getting a full
associate's of science in oursocial science program.
So that's also available forstudents who are rising juniors.
They would begin that summer oftheir sophomore, going into
junior year, and they would taketheir first three sets of
(19:22):
classes with us that summer.
And it's a combination.
Both programs are a combinationof AP courses and exams, as
well as dual enrollment coursesthat they can take to their high
school and then classes thatthey come to TCC to take during
those summer months.
So both wonderful opportunitiesto knock out a lot of college
(19:43):
credits with a combination againof AP scores from those exams,
dual enrollment courses and justTCC classes they would come
here to take.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
And so that sounds very exciting.
But I think part of the messagealso is if you're a junior and
you're gonna be a senior,there's still opportunities.
There's still some courses thatyou can take and get this dual
enrollment credit right.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Man, that's a great thing, there are lots.
There are lots, yeah, lots wow,that is impressive.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
There's a little something for everyone.
Yeah, and again, I'm just gonnaso again.
The contact for students andtheir families would be their
high school guidance counseloror the dual enrollment liaison
or contact person in theirschool right.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Well, I just want to let you know that also,
chesapeake Public Schools isworking on growing our dual
enrollment program.
So we are constantly looking togrow the program again to
appeal to students, to encouragemore students to enroll.
It's a great opportunity forstudents to know what college
courses are like and to work atthat level.
So we do encourage students todefinitely try to take a dual
enrollment course throughoutyour four-year high school
(20:45):
career.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Well, guys, we really appreciate your time.
I feel a lot smarter.
I know me too.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
I feel a lot smarter about this now right, I can talk
about it.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
So thanks again, holly.
We wish you the best with yournew born.
I know that's great and I knowyou're very excited, and thank
you for taking your time, andyour dogs too, and your dogs.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Don't forget the dogs , don't do not.
Thank you guys.
Yeah, thank you very much,chris.
Thanks for being with us.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Thank you so much and we will talk to you guys again
soon.
Thank you.
Well, there's anotherinformative and fun episode of
amplified the Chesapeake PublicSchools podcast.
We want to take just a minuteto take the mystery out.
We now know the name of Holly.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Distelli's baby.
That's right.
So first off, congratulations,holly and your family, for the
birth of your daughter, and thename that they decided on is
Avalon Hope Distelli.
So, congratulations, it's abeautiful name.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
It is.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Congratulations to your family Again.
Thanks for being on the showright before, technically, you
went into labor.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Yeah right, I'm just about yeah.
So we didn't want to leave youhanging on that, we didn't want
to create a mystery and you, forthe rest of your day, go.
I wonder what the baby's nameis but, that's how we try to
look out for you.
In fact, speaking of lookingout for you, stay tuned.
Another episode coming in March.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
That's right.
Our next episode is going to beall about school safety, so
make sure you tune in and listenand subscribe to amplify the
Chesapeake Public Schoolspodcast.
Wherever you get your podcasts,and if you have any further
questions regarding dualenrollment, make sure to contact
your school counselor, or youcan even visit our Chesapeake
Public Schools YouTube channel,where, earlier this month, the
(22:24):
Department of Family andCommunity Engagement just
recently hosted a dualenrollment webinar.
Welcome to Amplify the Chesapeake Public Schools
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Chesapeake Schools is located in the Hampton Roads
area of southeastern Virginia.
We serve 40,000 students in 45schools and three centers.
This podcast is designed totell the stories behind our
story and to introduce andcelebrate the people and
programs that make us one of thepremier school districts in
Virginia.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hey Richie, how's it going?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good man, good, I'm actually making it through the
winter.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because last time we spoke you
weren't kind of feeling well, Idon't think anybody likes how
the weather goes up and down.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Right, well, I do like it going up, I mean, we had
a couple of days it was 80.
Yeah, I know so that gave mehope.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I turned the AC on Hope Springs Eternal.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
You turned the AC on right.
I opened my windows.
Yeah, yeah, it was not in.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
January yeah, I know, you know.
One thing that's good is we getto go do some winter sports,
like I went skiing with ourfamily.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Oh yeah, we took the family skiing and it was
definitely funny.
Yeah, because I learned.
Actually, I'd never heard thisbefore because I don't ski, why
not?
I don't like it and so but Ilearned about French fries and
pizza Just from that story, Ithink.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I could ski.
I think you could.
I mean, it was definitely ascary moment in my life.
We took Leanna up and she didlike a couple of classes, not
like a professional class.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
We took a little class with us and then we were
like you know what, let's justget on the slope.
So we went, we took her and Iam halfway kind of down the
slopes of the mountain and mywife is kind of holding her and
helping her go down.
We're on the buddy slopes.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I mean this is not steep at all, right Right.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So she kind of lets her loose and she's like Matt,
you got to stop because she'scoming your way, and so she's
going full on, skis forward, andthat's what we call French
fries French fries.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
French fries and.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I'm yelling at her going pizza, pizza, so like the
tell me what do you think theother people on the slopes?
Thought they said they don'tdeliver out here.
I know right, they wereprobably like watch out.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Dad, you're going to get run over, which happens,
right yeah, right yeah.
But anyways, how about this asecond February episode?
I know we got a lot going on wedo we do.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
I mean, we'll get into this, but we talked about
CTE month in our last episode,but also in that division of
college and career readiness wetalked about career readiness.
We're going to talk aboutcollege readiness today and some
of the dual enrollmentopportunities available to
people.
So it's a bonus episode.
February is a short month andyou get two episodes.
(02:40):
Who does that for you?
We do, we do.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
All right, here we are with Christine
Spurlakis-Babb, who's thecoordinator of college readiness
with Chesapeake Public Schools,and we also, on the phone, have
Holly Distelli, who is atTidewater Community College, as
the dual enrollment manager forthe Chesapeake campus.
Right, so we're here and we'rein the studio.
(03:09):
Actually, Holly is over thephone as we're doing this.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
She's over the phone and you know this has nothing to
do with dual enrollment, but wealways try to get to know our
guests some.
Why are you on the phone, holly?
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Hello everybody.
Thank you so much for having metoday, really appreciate it.
I'm on the phone because I'mexpecting my second child here
very soon, so I'm not able totravel as much these days.
So I am kind of workingremotely until this baby comes.
So I am here at my house and sohappy I can join you all this
(03:42):
morning over the phone and talkabout dual enrollment.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Fabulous, that's fabulous.
Do you know if it's a boy orgirl?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
We're having a baby girl.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Oh, okay, all right, you have a name, you have a name
, you have a name picked out,yet we do.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
We haven't released the masses yet.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Okay, all right.
Well, this is not the placethis is not the place to do it.
If you haven't told anybodybecause of our millions of
listeners, then everybody willknow.
Yeah, that's true, All right,so now, Chris, you have been and
you don't have to say how long,but you've been in the school
system for quite some time.
Tell us a little bit about yourbackground.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yes, I have been in the school system for quite a
while.
I was a teacher at Great BridgeHigh School, taught science,
moved into administration, wasonce an instructional specialist
and now I am the collegereadiness coordinator for
Chesapeake Public Schools.
All right.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I think a good place to start would be what is dual
enrollment?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Great question and dual enrollment are courses that
students can take while they'rein high school and they earn
dual credit.
They earn credit for highschool towards graduation and
they earn college credit fromTCC.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Okay, so obviously there's a benefit for the kids.
Holly, what's the benefit toTCC for doing the student
enrollment program?
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Well, it's a really great opportunity for us to
introduce high school studentsto these college classes right
there at their high school.
So it's for us to kind of likeeducate students on what it's
like to be enrolled in collegeclasses.
And for some students we try toencourage them to even come to
TCC after they finish their highschool to finish, maybe, a
(05:18):
program with us, if they arejust taking dual enrollment
courses with us.
So for us in the end wesometimes just get more
enrollments after high schoolgraduation, which is always a
wonderful thing.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Well, yeah, Christine .
What grade level are the dualenrollment courses being offered
?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
The majority of our dual enrollment courses are for
juniors and seniors.
We do occasionally have somesophomores enrolled as well.
And we have a variety ofcourses and programs.
We have things like advancedcybersecurity, auto body, we
have college composition, wehave US history, we have physics
, so some of our courses aretaught at the high school and
(05:55):
some of our courses are taughtat TCC.
We also have things likeWestern civilization,
electricity, just to name a few.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Wow.
So it's the whole gamut fromwhat we would call traditionally
academic or regular schoolclasses, but also a number of
career readiness.
We'll call it courses or trades.
Yeah right, Wow.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
We have a really great program set up with
Chesapeake Career Center throughour career and technical
education programs to helpstudents who might not
necessarily want to just go onand get a four-year degree after
high school but are reallyinterested in getting into a
trade and making money as soonas they can graduate from high
school.
And so we have severalopportunities through the
(06:35):
Chesapeake Career Center throughdual enrollment, where students
can get a certification in aspecific field and then go on
and start working in that fieldonce they finish the
certification.
That's awesome so it's not justabout those transfer classes
that do go on to a four-yearschool, but also focusing in on
those students who might justwant to get some hands-on
(06:56):
experience in the classroom andgo out and make money.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, so how does this work?
Does a student have to apply toTCC and be accepted, or can
they?
Because they're a ChesapeakePublic School student, they can
just sign up.
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
All right.
So students do schedule for thecourses.
They do have to apply for theprogram, they do have to be
accepted into TCC, and then theyalso request these courses
through our scheduling and haveto meet some minimum
requirements.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Yeah, and basically for those requirements, if a
student is looking to take oneof our career and technical
programs through the CareerCenter, those students just need
to have a minimum GPA of a 2.0or higher and be accepted into
the Chesapeake Career Center tobe part of those career
(07:42):
technical dual enrollmentopportunities.
Now, for students who arelooking to take classes that do
transfer on to a four-yearcollege university, such as
college composition, US history,Western civilizations, things
of that nature, pre-calculusphysics, they will need to make
sure they have at least a 3.0GPA to place into that program
(08:04):
and then, depending on if it's amath course or not, we would
look at different mathrequirements.
If they are trying to get intoa course that has either a math
placement requirement to it,such as math pre-calculus, or,
like physics for example, doeshave a math prerequisite built
into it For the most part, ifthey don't have the GPA, we can
(08:25):
look at standardized test scoressuch as the PSAT, SAT, ACT, and
if students still aren'tmeeting the measurements in
either of those categories, theycan always come to TCC and
schedule their placement test totake the placement test to
place into their course they'retrying to get into.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So there's a lot of ways.
It sounds like there's a realeffort to work to get kids into
the program if they areinterested in doing so.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
They're definitely.
Yes, we want to make sure wecan try to help these students
progress in whatever area thatthey're looking to do post-high
school, whether it go into atrades field or to just get a
jumpstart on those collegecredits.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Right.
So if I'm like a junior orsenior that's interested in this
program, what or who would Ineed to talk to to get this
conversation started to apply?
Speaker 3 (09:13):
First of all, when we start in the high school,
during scheduling we schedulefor the upcoming school year.
Usually in January and February, counselors do presentations.
I'll talk about dual enrollment, but if you have questions
about dual enrollment you canreach out to myself as a college
readiness coordinator, theguidance counselors directly in
the building Each high schoolhas a dual enrollment person in
their building and then, ofcourse, to Holly at TCC.
(09:33):
All of us can help guidestudents and answer questions.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Now it's been admittedly a very long time
since I was in college, but I doknow from my experience that if
you're getting, okay, thank youyeah okay, that's not get
specific.
If you don't get college credit, in my experience, unless
you're, you pay for it, unlessthere's some money involved.
So what's the cost for studentscoming into the student
(09:57):
enrollment program?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
So the cost right now for students to participate in
dual enrollment to get the dualcredit is $45 per credit hour
and students directly pay theschool For that.
They don't pay TCC, so they'lldirectly pay their school the
$45 per credit hour.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
That's relatively cheap.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
So then because the TCC tuition just went up.
We're like, oh yeah, this is somuch better yeah no kidding.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
So it's a money saving thing too for students.
Now if they're taken let's sayI'm taken, and you count the
number of college creditsthey're getting, not the number
of high school credits they'regetting right to determine that
cost.
So if I want to take, say,western civilization, how many
credits is that?
I mean, is that just one TCCcollege credit or is it three?
Speaker 4 (10:50):
It's three credits per semester.
So dual enrollment Westerncivilization which we offer at
Grassfield High School right now, that is a three credit hour
course and we actually havestudents take it as a year long
course.
So they're going to get threecredits in the fall for Western
civilizations one, and thenthree credits in the spring for
Western civilizations two.
(11:12):
So a total of six collegecredits.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Now and I heard you say that it's offered at
Grassfield High School Are therecertain things that if it's not
offered at one school that youcan still get involved in or
take, or if you're not at thatschool?
Speaker 3 (11:26):
We do have some high schools that offer courses, like
Deep Creek High School has thephysics, and then she mentioned
Western civilization atGrassfield, and so if students
can't take it at their homeschool, then they do have the
option.
Some courses are offeredthrough CVA and then also
through virtual Virginia.
So they have otheropportunities to take the dual
enrollment courses.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Right.
So even if it's not offered atthis school, they still have the
chance to take it.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
So now, obviously a course like electricity.
I mean, that's hands on, yougot to be there, right?
So?
But are these other courses?
Are there online options forthem, like Western Civ or
physics or any of those courses?
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Okay, so currently CVA offers college composition
and US history dual enrollmentand again, when students sign up
it all depends on what thestudents schedule for each year.
So if we have enough studentssign up for a CVA dual
enrollment course, then thecourse makes we offer it
virtually but also virtual.
Virginia offers the dualenrollment courses.
So we have a lot of opportunity.
(12:23):
But each year it kind ofdepends what the students are
signing up for, like some of ourmore popular classes the
college composition in thesenior year and then also the US
history courses.
So it a lot just depends onwhat students are signing up for
each year.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
So do either of you have like a number of courses.
I'm just curious, just anoverall number of courses that
are offered as dual enrollmentcourses.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
I mean it's really when you include those career
and technical programs, becausethey're very robust.
Like we offer career studiescertificates in almost all of
those programs.
So students are graduating fromTCC and at high school with a
career studies certificate andsome type of certification to
(13:08):
make them eligible in thatindustry.
So there's a lot of classesinvolved with the career side.
When it comes to the moretransfer focused courses that we
offer, we have Englishcomposition, us history, western
civilizations, geology, physics.
I have teachers for tomorrowprograms.
(13:30):
I feel like I'm missing some.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Environmental science .
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Environmental science , really Environmental science,
yes, wow.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
All these courses are taught through the high school.
Oh okay At the high schoolwhich is really great.
They don't have to go anywhereif they're in classes, which is
really great because these arejust part of our courses, our
dual enrollment courses that weoffer at the high school.
They're taught by their highschool instructors Got you, who
are credentialed to teachcollege classes, so the students
(13:59):
don't even have to leave theirhigh school or in some cases
don't even have to leave theircomputer because they're taking
it through CBA and can justcomplete those requirements and
get college credits knocked out,while in high schools, I love
the example of a student whostarts as a junior and they are
doing US history their junioryear and then they decided to
(14:22):
college composition their senioryear and now that we're
offering pre-calculus, theycould be adding that either
junior or senior year, so theycould technically graduate from
high school with 15 credit hoursalready finished, which is
basically one semester's worthof classes.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Right, I mean I had a four year college.
That sounds awesome becauseagain I went to school those
first years or kind of justthose classes just to kind of
get you through like the 100level mass and things like that.
So you knock that outbeforehand.
I think that's a great thing.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And you find that the majority of these courses they
transfer right, I mean once youhave those TCC credits, yeah, so
now I know from some experiencethat there's at least one.
I remember we used to send theelectricity kids over to TCC
because we just didn't have thespace for it.
Is that?
Is that still the case?
And are there other classeswhere career center kids end up
(15:17):
going to the, going to thecampus?
Speaker 4 (15:19):
We do have students that are bust over from the
Chesapeake Career Center to comeon to our campus for their
coursework.
So Mechatronics is reallypopular program.
All of our Mechatronicsstudents come over to our campus
right across the street fromthe career center and
participate in their classesthere.
(15:39):
Electricity students do thesame thing.
Our emergency medicaltechnician program, the EMT
program, is housed over on ourcampus.
Basic machining, which is a newprogram this year and we're
hoping to have it continue togrow next year, but those basic
machining students will come toour campus as well.
So those are just some of theprograms that will come over
(16:02):
from the career center and be onour campus and use our spaces.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Okay, wow, and so is there a website or a place that
kids can go to see all theseoptions and get some of these
explanations?
Speaker 4 (16:16):
So our website at TCC kind of is more of like a
global approach to what dualenrollment is, but it has my
contact information on there and, honestly, the school
counselors in the dualenrollment points of contact in
each school counseling officehave a plethora of information
about ways that students can getstarted with dual enrollment
(16:38):
and just to help ask anyquestions that they might have.
I'm always a resource forstudents when I'm not on leave
and so, yeah, it was the.
If they have questions, theycan always reach out to their
school counselor.
Chris mentioned they can reachout to her, they can reach out
to me, because every schooldistrict has unique programs for
(17:00):
dual enrollment andunfortunately, it's not one
cookie cutter way of doing it.
Jess Beekville has one of themost expansive dual enrollment
programs and we have so much tooffer like you just can't put it
all out there on the website,unfortunately.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well, I want to let you know too.
So we have a new Canvas coursecalled College Readiness that
we're getting ready to roll outsoon.
That includes ways to get intodual enrollment, all the things
that kids need to be collegeready and career ready as they
graduate.
So it's for grades nine through12.
And also, too, ChesapeakePublic Schools will have a
college readiness website comingsoon as well.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Okay, great, All right.
Well, I have to say, Holly, mycuriosity's gotten the best of
me.
You have to tell me about yourdog.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Not at all not at all .
Speaker 4 (17:48):
I have two Coonhound pointer mixed puppies who are
just a year old Wow.
They love that mommy's homewith them right now.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
They love that Great they're in the work day.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
So, the fact that mama's home and they can be out
playing around and they love toplay with one another.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
That's awesome, that's great, and it sounds like
they want your attention.
So we appreciate you guyscoming in today.
Is there anything we left out?
Yes, there is.
Is there anything that you wantto share?
You want to get out there?
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Well, I did want to just kind of highlight two
special programs that we havethat are geared for students who
are looking to get the most outof their high school and dual
enrollment opportunity, andthey're two of our transfer
pathway programs.
We have two pathways thatstudents can choose between the
uniform certificate for generalstudies we call it the UCGS for
(18:39):
short which is 31 to 32 credithours of college classes that
students can complete.
They would start the programbeginning this summer of their
sophomore year and then theywould finish it up by their
senior year and they would havebasically half an associate's
degree already completed bydoing the UCGS.
(19:01):
So that's one transfer pathwaywe have.
And then the other one isactually getting a full
associate's of science in oursocial science program.
So that's also available forstudents who are rising juniors.
They would begin that summer oftheir sophomore, going into
junior year, and they would taketheir first three sets of
(19:22):
classes with us that summer.
And it's a combination.
Both programs are a combinationof AP courses and exams, as
well as dual enrollment coursesthat they can take to their high
school and then classes thatthey come to TCC to take during
those summer months.
So both wonderful opportunitiesto knock out a lot of college
(19:43):
credits with a combination againof AP scores from those exams,
dual enrollment courses and justTCC classes they would come
here to take.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
And so that sounds very exciting.
But I think part of the messagealso is if you're a junior and
you're gonna be a senior,there's still opportunities.
There's still some courses thatyou can take and get this dual
enrollment credit right.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Man, that's a great thing, there are lots.
There are lots, yeah, lots wow,that is impressive.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
There's a little something for everyone.
Yeah, and again, I'm just gonnaso again.
The contact for students andtheir families would be their
high school guidance counseloror the dual enrollment liaison
or contact person in theirschool right.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Well, I just want to let you know that also,
chesapeake Public Schools isworking on growing our dual
enrollment program.
So we are constantly looking togrow the program again to
appeal to students, to encouragemore students to enroll.
It's a great opportunity forstudents to know what college
courses are like and to work atthat level.
So we do encourage students todefinitely try to take a dual
enrollment course throughoutyour four-year high school
(20:45):
career.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Well, guys, we really appreciate your time.
I feel a lot smarter.
I know me too.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
I feel a lot smarter about this now right, I can talk
about it.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
So thanks again, holly.
We wish you the best with yournew born.
I know that's great and I knowyou're very excited, and thank
you for taking your time, andyour dogs too, and your dogs.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Don't forget the dogs , don't do not.
Thank you guys.
Yeah, thank you very much,chris.
Thanks for being with us.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Thank you so much and we will talk to you guys again
soon.
Thank you.
Well, there's anotherinformative and fun episode of
amplified the Chesapeake PublicSchools podcast.
We want to take just a minuteto take the mystery out.
We now know the name of Holly.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Distelli's baby.
That's right.
So first off, congratulations,holly and your family, for the
birth of your daughter, and thename that they decided on is
Avalon Hope Distelli.
So, congratulations, it's abeautiful name.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
It is.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Congratulations to your family Again.
Thanks for being on the showright before, technically, you
went into labor.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Yeah right, I'm just about yeah.
So we didn't want to leave youhanging on that, we didn't want
to create a mystery and you, forthe rest of your day, go.
I wonder what the baby's nameis but, that's how we try to
look out for you.
In fact, speaking of lookingout for you, stay tuned.
Another episode coming in March.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
That's right.
Our next episode is going to beall about school safety, so
make sure you tune in and listenand subscribe to amplify the
Chesapeake Public Schoolspodcast.
Wherever you get your podcasts,and if you have any further
questions regarding dualenrollment, make sure to contact
your school counselor, or youcan even visit our Chesapeake
Public Schools YouTube channel,where, earlier this month, the
(22:24):
Department of Family andCommunity Engagement just
recently hosted a dualenrollment webinar.
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