August 22, 2016
Alyssa Farris has earned a year of college credit along with multiple stamps on her passport all while attending high school as a dual enrollment student at Vol State Livingston!
Obtaining a college degree may seem like a daunting task for some high school graduates, especially when they think about the time commitment required to complete a program. Alyssa Farris, who graduated from Livingston Academy High School this past spring with 43 college credits, doesn’t feel that way.
While at Livingston Academy, Alyssa enrolled in Volunteer State Community College’s dual enrollment program, which allows students to earn high school credit and college credit for the same course. Those credits gave her over a year head start on college.
Alyssa started taking dual enrollment classes during her junior year. “I wanted to get a feel of college classes,” she said. “With dual enrollment you either find out if you’re ready or want to go to college.”
For the remainder of high school, Alyssa took online dual classes. As a senior, she took her first class on campus at Vol State Livingston. “I wanted to take statistics in person, because I thought it would be more challenging and I felt that I needed more guidance than the online course would provide.”
Alyssa starts Middle Tennessee State University this fall as a sophomore, where she will study Speech Pathology. All of her Vol State dual enrollment credits transferred, so she will go straight into the upper division Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology program.
“I knew that I wanted to go to MTSU, so I took classes that I knew would transfer. It is important for high school students to decide where they want to go to college so they can take the right classes for their desired degree,” Alyssa added.
As a dual enrollment student, Alyssa was eligible for the Tennessee Consortium for International Studies (TnCis) study abroad program. She was awarded a scholarship and studied in Amsterdam, Berlin, and Paris for three weeks this summer, following graduation.
“You have to do a lot of work while you’re there…it is a class,” she said. “I traveled with other students from across Tennessee. It was great to be around students who are intelligent, have different interests and want to share knowledge. You learn so much from each other, not just the teacher. I absolutely want to do more study abroad.”
Vol State partners with high schools in Clay, Jackson, Overton, Pickett and Putnam counties to provide dual enrollment courses. General education classes may be taught at the high school, on the college campus, or online by Vol State faculty.
Students interested in taking dual enrollment classes should talk to their high school counselors.
“I’m always amazed and gratified to witness the heart and dedication or our dual students who, like Alyssa, exemplify this level of success,” said Michael Powell, director of Vol State Livingston.
“Vol State has done a very good job preparing me to transfer to MTSU, and has given me more confidence to leave home and pursue my goals,” said Alyssa.
Vol State at Livingston is a degree granting center with more than twenty associate of science degree programs that can be completed at the Livingston campus, as well as courses that transfer to other colleges and universities.
For more information about Vol State at Livingston call (931) 823-7065 or visit www.volstate.edu
### Photo ID – Left to right: Lisa Officer, student services coordinator at Vol State Livingston talks to Alyssa Farris, Vol State dual enrollment student, about transferring to MTSU this fall. Alyssa earned a year of college credit while attending high school as a dual enrollment student at Vol State Livingston.
