Lasell University hosted a dual-enrollment program for local high school students to take college-level courses for credit in the 2020-2021 academic year. The program, made possible by a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, offered the dual-enrollment opportunity to students in school districts who might otherwise not easily access Advanced Placement or dual-enrollment courses. 

According to Claudia Rinaldi, the Joan Weiler Arnow ’49 Professor and Education Program Chair at Lasell, the program was designed to offer high-level course access across various fields to underrepresented minorities in local partner high schools. Those schools are part of eight school districts involved in Lasell’s Pathways to Diversity program: Nantucket, Waltham, Lawrence, Andover, Marlborough, Milford, and the Lexington and Lincoln-Sudbury METCO programs.

More than 130 students in those school districts participated in biology, education, global studies, business, criminal justice, American Sign Language, psychology, and communications courses, all taught by Lasell faculty. Every high school participant was also partnered with a Lasell student mentor to enhance opportunities for success. 

“The mentors were Lasell students majoring in that subject area, who supported the high school students with course content and shared information about further studies in that field,” says Rinaldi.

“The goal was to encourage more career and higher education exploration among the high school participants.”