Utah Valley Community College is sponsoring a program aimed at curbing the growing number of high school dropouts in Utah County.
Area school districts provide at least one faculty member to serve as a full-time mentor/counselor at UVCC's Center for High School Studies."We work with approximately 75 students by evaluating their transcripts and helping them decide which field they would like to enter in college," according to Carolyn Thompson, Provo School District advisor for the Center of High School Studies at UVCC.
"The mentors' primary role is to persuade high school students to stay in school and earn their high school diplomas," Thompson said.
The mentors work with the students from their districts who are transferred to the center, said Gary Wixom, dean of continuing education. "They orientate, advise and assess students according to their attendance, academic progress and in-class behavior."
Thompson said the courses meet high school graduation requirements so the students earn both high school and college credit concurrently.
The participants are treated as regular students and pay regular tuition, said Thompson. There is some special federal aid available to those students who qualify.
"We also cater to accelerated students who would like to get a jump on their college degrees," she said. "They've exhausted their interests on the high school level and would like to further their education in a college setting."