BHS students earn college certificates with Palomar

BONSALL – At Bonsall High School, 18 students recently earned college-level digital publishing certificates thanks to a Dual Enrollment agreement between the school and Palomar College. The high school has 360 students on their campus north of San Marcos.

“These are credits and grades that will stay with them,” Liz LaBlond, a full-time high school teacher in Bonsall and adjunct professor at Palomar College, said. “This is really powerful for the students and really helpful for the schools. It’s a win-win for everybody.”

To complete the certificate, the teens had to take a sequence of four Palomar College courses, provided at the high school during the day at no cost to the students. LaBlond said the group of certificate awardees included two sophomores, with the rest being juniors and seniors.

“We are proud of the work that our students are doing even before they graduate high school,” Joi Lin Blake, Ph.D., superintendent and president of Palomar College, said. “It’s inspiring to see students as young as 16 getting a head start on their college education while they work toward their diploma.”

LaBlond said the digital publishing certificates will open up so-called “middle-skills” job opportunities to the students directly out of high school.

“They can go into a business and help with social media, website design, any marketing materials that need to be created,” she said. “I’m also looking at it from a teacher’s perspective – yes, they’re getting college credit for free, but the bigger thing is, we’re teaching them what college is. That’s the bigger takeaway.”

Palomar College has Dual Enrollment partnerships with 12 local high schools, including Bonsall High School, Escondido Charter High School, Escondido High School, Fallbrook Union High School, Guajome Park Academy, High Tech High North County, Julian Union High School, Orange Glen High School, Rancho Buena Vista High School, San Marcos Unified School District, Valley Center High School and Vista High School.

Palomar College classes are available to high school students for free. For more information about the Dual Enrollment program at Palomar College, visit www2.palomar.edu/pages/dualenrollment.

Submitted by Palomar College.