Junior Jouranlists: The legacy lives on
The ‘Junior Journalists’ section is contributed by students in the Georgia College Early College program. This week’s edition is a collaboration of the work of Haley Webb, Benzetta Reeves, Calvin Le, Timberly Spikes, Oneisha Lee, Krishindra Johnson, Shambria Brown, Kyle Vining, Ti’Kera Hightower, Justin Brown, Jalon Trawick, Sylvia Stapleton, Brittney Wilson and Chelsea Williams.
It was four years ago that the Legacy Class was established. Since that time, GCSU has changed rapidly and drastically, but the mindset and mentality of the Georgia College Early College students and teachers has remained constant. The creators of the GCEC community, Dr. John Lounsbury and Camille Tyson, have made significant impacts not only on the GCSU campus, but in the world of education.
“Just what is happening – it is clearly successful in achieving their successes,” Lounsbury said. “The students are proud of their involvement and more educators know of their existence. Early College is a prime example of the excellence that characterizes the Georgia College teacher education program.”
Since day one, the Legacy Class has followed the declaration of GCEC which reads, “We, the participants of Early College, in order to form a more perfect learning community, establish justice, ensure a meaningful learning experience to excellence, do agree to honor these principles: respect, caring, integrity, and personal responsibility.”
Because of the actions of the Legacy Class, the 220 students at GCEC, especially the 53 who are 10th-graders, are able to take on a sense of ownership in their education and feel a certain amount of pride in their unique community. It can be said that the experiences of the GCEC participant are very different from that of a normal middle or high school student.
“I like a little bit of both because at my old school I have my friends and at my new school I’m learning new stuff,” 7th-grade Early College student, Kamia Solomon, said.
The GCEC program has enabled some students to be the first in their families to start college and a few will start college courses even before the end of their 10th-grade year.
“I’m glad that I got the chance to be at Early College because I have a big opportunity to start college at an early age and grade,” Ti’Kera Hightower, an Early College 10th-grader, said. “I think that being in Early College and being in the Legacy Class is such a great opportunity to have a title and name like that.”
Though the end of their high-school careers are growing closer for the 10th-graders, the marks and memories of the Legacy Class will be forever remembered by those whose lives have changed from knowing them.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Sep 4 2009. Filed under News.
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