The College Credit Plus expansion is a big deal here at Poland Seminary High School.

Although College Credit Plus is huge opportunity that everyone should attempt to take advantage of, one must have a qualifying GPA and ACT score, depending on the college.

Even when talking to Mr. Janofa in a previous interview, one of the first details he stated when talking about changes he was proud of was giving students the opportunity to take college credit courses while being seniors here at Poland.

In a previous interview, Janofa said that College Credit Plus courses give our students a head start when they are in college and eventually looking for a job, and that advantage started here at Poland with the expansion of the college credit classes offered.

What are the advantages? It reduces the time and costs in college immensely by being completely free and potentially getting many or even all of one’s freshman courses at college done while being a senior in high school without ever leaving Poland Seminary High School. Many courses are offered in the high school during the school day by high school teachers who students may have already had for a previous class.

Right now, these benefits are offered with Youngstown State University, Kent State University, and Eastern Gateway.

Mr. Vagas stated, “Absolutely, it is [College Credit Plus] is a very beneficial program that sets Poland apart from other schools by offering more academic opportunities.”

Students do have to remember that it is college level coursework though.

Mr. Vagas said, “Your maturity level needs to be at a certain point to really take advantage of what we are offering.”

There are many different ways you can participate in CC+ one being, actually go to the college for the courses, and Mr. Vagas answered a few questions about this experience.

Mr. Vagas added that “not being in the high school building interacting with peers might be a con to some but a main advantage would be getting a feel for the college experience and seeing what you’re going to be dealing with before you even leave high school, and this should give you an upper hand in the future”

To get full insight on the CC+ experience, we interviewed fellow senior Katy Smith, asking a few questions about the CC+ courses she takes, so we could get a real student’s perspective. She takes Mrs. Smith’s College Credit Plus English 12 right here at Poland Seminary High School, which will give her credit for College Writing I and II through Kent State University.

K. Smith said, “The thing that intrigued me the most was the fact that I could potentially not have to take the College Writing I and II classes in college if I did well.”

When asked what the difference in difficulty was between a regular writing class and her CC+ course, K. Smith said that there is more rigor but she felt prepared.

K. Smith said, “Not much is different other than you are graded a little stricter and write more often.”

We also wanted to know if she believed the class has been worth it thus far.

K. Smith said, “Yes, because I believe my writing has really improved over the past semester alone.”