College Courses Offered To Students At Camden Charter School
CAMDEN, NJ (CBS) -- Senioritis will probably be a thing of the past for students at the LEAP Academy in Camden.
This fall, seniors will take a full schedule of college classes, with the opportunity to earn 30 credits.
"I think this is a great opportunity, I'm really excited. I'm happy that they're providing us with this experience," said student Nakita McGahee
She says this program will give her the jump start she wants as she looks to pursue her dreams.
"I'm looking to take anything that will get me further up in science because that's the field I would like to go through," she said.
"You just get an opportunity that others don't get. It's like a boost in your confidence kind of. It makes you want to try harder to do better things," said Jaondra Thomas.
Thomas, who plans on majoring in psychology, says she can not wait to start taking the classes.
"Definitely calculus. I love math and biology," she said.
This initiative is made possible through the school's collaboration with Rutgers University-Camden and Rowan University.
"This is one way we can reach out, particularly to the local community, and make sure that a high quality college education is accessible and available for these students," said Kriste Lindenmeyer, dean of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers-Camden
"They are already resilient enough, they've proven they can do it academically," said Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, found of LEAP Academy.
She has high expectations for her students.
"Some of these kids have been homeless, some of these kids come from neighborhoods where there is drugs and violence, and they survived all that. It takes an incredible human being to go through that, still go to school every day, have good attendance and good grades and still succeed. So college should be a piece of cake," she said.
Many of the rising seniors say they are confident they can handle the college workload.
