by Vicki Skinner

Dylan Skinner-Rosenberg, left and Luis and Angelica Mendez, all seniors at Pescadero High School. Photo: Vicki Skinner

When it comes to education, Californians tend to “think outside of the box.” Some families who are unhappy with the public school system are choosing to home-school their children. However, this gets harder as children get older and want to participate in the social aspects of high school such as sports or extracurricular activities.

But high schools cannot always satisfy all their students’ academic needs. Pescadero High School, located 15 miles south of Half Moon Bay, has only 125 students in four grades, making it one of the smallest high schools in California. With this small enrollment, the school cannot schedule all the classes the students desire. So the students go to college — that’s right, college. San Mateo County community colleges have two programs for high school students: Middle College and Concurrent Enrollment. One Pescadero student is at Middle College, and three are taking college classes using Concurrent Enrollment.

In the Middle College Program,  students are enrolled directly at the college; Cañada College has 86 Middle College students. These students take a combination of high school and college classes to earn a high school diploma — and work towards a college degree simultaneously. Some of their courses are taught by high school teachers, while college instructors teach other courses. The students have requirements for graduation and they get actual high school diplomas. “In fact,” says Robert Hood, Public Information Director of Cañada, “the district   supervisor and school board members normally attend Middle College graduations and give students their diplomas.”

With Concurrent Enrollment, the students usually attend community college in the mornings and go back to their high schools for afternoon classes. Cañada has approximately 500 Concurrent Enrollment students while College of San Mateo has 600.

Why so much interest? Hood says, “Finances and flexibility. It is important to understand that both programs are free for high school students in San Mateo County. Parents and students  see the financial benefit to Concurrent Enrollment. Would you rather pay CSU and UC tuition prices for freshman/ sophomore year or would you rather earn those units for free in Concurrent Enrollment? Times are tight so parents are looking for ways to reduce college tuition costs. There is also the flexibility factor. As a student, I can take virtually any class I want for free.” 

And some do just that. Dylan Skinner-Rosenberg, a senior at Pescadero High School, is in his second year as a Concurrent Enrollment student. Last year, he couldn’t fit honors English into his schedule due to conflicts with other classes, so he went to Cañada and took English 100 and Introduction to Philosophy. Skinner-Rosenberg says, “I never really got too engaged in my high school classes. However, when I got to college and had the opportunity to take whatever I wanted, philosophy interested me. I never wanted to miss one philosophy class.” In fact, Skinner-Rosenberg is thinking about majoring in philosophy in college. He is taking English 110 and the next-level philosophy class this semester and comes back to Pescadero for his senior project; he also serves as teaching assistant for the English department. Plus he takes Algebra 2 online through Brigham Young University and plays soccer, basketball and baseball for Pescadero, as well as being part of the student government.

Luis and Angelica Mendez, also seniors at Pescadero High School, started attending College of San Mateo in their senior year. They both play sports for their high school, too, which is probably why they are not in Middle College. 

Luis Mendez takes English 100 and Math 251 (calculus and analytical geometry) at CSM in the mornings. His reasons are two-fold. He wants to get done with college faster, and Pescadero didn’t have much else to offer him. Luis, who wants to be an engineer, is on the fast track to a four-year school. He took general engineering classes at San Francisco State during the summer, has taken Advanced Placement science classes at Pescadero, and is now taking two general education requirements at CSM. He says the material at Pescadero High School is just as hard, but in college they go at a much faster pace. Classes at Pescadero are 1 ½ hours every day; at CSM, classes tend to be 50 minutes, three times a week. An avid soccer and basketball player, Luis is involved in student government as well. 

Angelica, who is Luis’s cousin, also wants to be an engineer — or a pediatrician. She says, “I already took calculus at Pescadero but wanted to learn more and delve deeper. I wanted to understand more so I retook calculus. I love it!” She comes back to Pescadero for volleyball, basketball and softball. She also comes back for friends. 

Concurrent Enrollment and Middle College offer viable options for motivated juniors and seniors, Robert Hood says. “Not every student reacts well in the less-structured college classroom setting but most thrive academically. The Concurrent Enrollment students often exceed the academic performance of our regular college students.” Best of all, not only do the students in Concurrent Enrollment get college credits for their college classes, they  get credit toward high school graduation requirements.

If you can afford the gas and the books, it’s a win-win proposition.