Senior year is a very important time for MHS students. A time full of firsts and many lasts, but also students can participate in college classes on the MCC campus. This can often raise questions for underclassmen on the benefits and the possible disadvantages of classes on the MCC campus. 

To Fiona Glynn and Olivia Haller, Senior year is their time to explore their interests for the future after high school.

“Right now I’m taking the Criminal Justice Academy and so right now I’m in Intro to Criminal Justice and then Ethics in Criminal Justice,” Fiona said.

Olivia is also taking some classes off campus at MCC this year.

“I’m not really in a certain academy but I’m taking Medical Terminology and Intro to Psychology,” Olivia responded. 

Muscatine Community College offers programs to high school students looking to get ahead in their education for their future careers called Career Academies. According to MCC’s website, career academies give students the opportunity to experience and complete classes in their desired career field without the cost of tuition. 

These classes off of the MHS campus offer different experiences for students. These include being in a college setting and exposure to collegiate-level teaching styles and school work, but how do these classes affect the learning experience for students?

“It’s doing what you actually want to do and so it’s more interesting and you can focus easier,” explained Fiona.

Although fun college classes do involve discipline in terms of the workload students are given. Some may be taking classes at the high school on top of those they are taking at MCC, so the work students have to complete can be a deciding factor in choosing classes.

When asked to describe their workload compared to previous years, Olivia and Fiona agreed that things were staying pretty evenly distributed.

“I would also say it’s pretty much the same because I also have three classes at the high school and two at the college this semester,” Olivia stated. 

Career academies are just one of many avenues for students to access in their college preparations, but some could wonder about the possible downsides in the travel and time management area.

“The school has made it pretty easy so I don’t have a fourth period so I have time to get lunch and then make my way to the college,” Fiona said.

She also added that not everybody’s schedule is the same, so there could be challenges for others that she isn’t facing. 

Though there can be issues for some, college classes during high school pose a plentiful amount of benefits to students and many will choose this path to get ahead in their future careers.