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Washington high school students getting college head start at Trinity

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Trinity-Coolidge Early College Academy students begin to leave Trinity Washington University’s O’Connor Auditorium following the Inaugural Coolidge Early College Academy Student Recognition Ceremony March 23, 2023. All 36 Coolidge High School students participating in the program that allowed them to earn college credits at Trinity during their last two years of high school are slated to earn their associate of arts degrees from the university in May. All of the students were officially accepted to Trinity to complete their bachelor’s degrees. (Trinity Times photo/Chaz Muth)

By: Miriam Barcenas
Trinity Times Correspondent

As Diarou Bayo listened to a guest speaker in one of her classes at Trinity Washington University in late March, she was reminded that she and her classmates were on course to receive their associate of arts degrees in May.

Bayo and the 35 other students enrolled in the Trinity-Coolidge Early College Academy will also be receiving their high school diplomas this spring.

These 36 seniors from Washington’s Calvin Coolidge High School participated in Trinity’s inaugural Early College Academy during the last two years, allowing them to earn the necessary 60 college credits to complete an associate of arts degree while still earning a high school diploma. 

Diarou Bayo, a student with the Trinity-Coolidge Early College Academy, addresses the audience during the Inaugural Coolidge Early College Academy Student Recognition Ceremony in O’Connor Auditorium March 23, 2023. (Trinity Times photo/Chaz Muth)

It’s been a monumental journey for these students as they relinquished the free time other high schoolers enjoy to study for their intellectually demanding college courses and they were given an opportunity to reflect on this experimental program in the District of Columbia Public Schools during a March 23 ceremony at the university honoring their accomplishments.

The Inaugural Coolidge Early College Academy (ECA) Student Recognition Ceremony featured remarks from Bayo and her fellow classmate Elvin Pena, Trinity leaders and professors, and members of D.C. Public Schools, all giving praise to the joint program designed to increase the percentage of college-bound high school graduates.

Though graduation rates have steadily increased in D.C. high schools in recent years, the percentage of students enrolling in college within six months of commencement dropped from 59% in 2018 to 51% in 2021, according to a District of Columbia government report.

Only 14 in 100 D.C. ninth graders completed a post-secondary education, according to data from the Office of the State Superintendent for Education D.C. School Report Card in 2018, yet 58% of jobs in D.C. require a post-secondary education.

From left; Antoinette Mitchell, assistant superintendent of postsecondary and career education for Washington’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education; D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee; and Trinity Washington University President Patricia McGuire all listen intently to Sita Ramamurti, dean of Trinity’s College of Arts and Sciences, during the Inaugural Coolidge Early College Academy Student Recognition Ceremony in O’Connor Auditorium March 23, 2023. (Trinity Times photo/Chaz Muth)

“We want students to know there are options,” Coolidge High School Principal Semanthe Bright told Trinity Times. “College shouldn’t be a far stretch if that’s what students want. If not, leaving high school with an associate degree allows them to go straight into the workforce with a greater earning potential.” 

Trinity’s ECA program is one of three in D.C. and its purpose is to provide students with an opportunity to acclimate to a college setting while being in high school. The other two ECA programs through D.C. Public Schools are the Bard High School Early College DC and the GW Early College Program.

The program also helps students accelerate the process of earning a bachelor’s degree and reduces college expenses for students and their parents. 

“The vision was to ensure our students had access to a rigorous high school experience, the ability to take (Advanced Placement) courses and the ability for our students to earn a tuition-free associate degree,” said Lewis Ferebe, chancellor of D.C. Public Schools. 

The 36 students in this ECA attended their first two years of high school on the Coolidge campus and transferred to Trinity for their junior and senior years, satisfying both high school and college credits, enough to earn both the high school diploma and the associate degree.

The nearly $36,000 Trinity tuition was covered by D.C. Public Schools.

During the March 23 ceremony, Sita Ramamurti, dean of Trinity’s college of arts and sciences, announced that all 36 ECA students had been officially accepted into the university’s bachelor’s degree program with up to $51,000 in scholarship money each over the next three years.

“I can genuinely say my experience with ECA and Trinity has been the best,” Bayo said during her remarks at the ceremony. “At Trinity it was all up to me. It was up to me to go to class and turn in my assignments. ECA made me more accountable in that way.”

Trinity has a nationally recognized legacy of educating low-income students of color and immigrants, and Patricia McGuire, the university’s president, sees the ECA program as another way to break down barriers in higher education by bridging the gap between high school and college campuses. 

“We believe deeply at Trinity that education should not be segregated,” McGuire told the audience during the ceremony. “We are about learning to the highest level possible so that all of the brightest minds of our city can be prepared to be the next generation of leaders.”

Steven Gable, associate professor of philosophy at Trinity Washington University, addresses his students during the Inaugural Coolidge Early College Academy Student Recognition Ceremony in O’Connor Auditorium March 23, 2023. (Trinity Times photo/Chaz Muth)

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