Elizabeth High School's partnership with Arapahoe Community College helps students get ahead

The rising cost of college can certainly be anxiety-ridden for parents, caretakers, and students alike. At Elizabeth High School, there is a program that hopes to give more kids a leg up on college through a partnership with Arapahoe Community College.

Throughout most of their young lives, EHS Seniors, Brooke Burris and Bailey Barnhart have been highly achieving academically. That hard work will pay off, as they will graduate this year with their high school diploma and an associate's degree.

"It feels like a big accomplishment because I know that I'm saving myself money in the long run. I'm going to get good scholarships hopefully," said Barnhart.

According to both, they are ahead of the game in math, with Brooke being two years ahead and Bailey taking high school math before her freshman year, they said. But it wasn't until they learned about the Concurrent Education Program offered at EHS that proved invaluable to their higher education plans.

"It helped with a lot of schooling. I only have to pay for fees and school materials," said Burris.

The Concurrent Education, or CE Program, has been with EHS since 2016, according to Andrew Ponn, the school's CE Coordinator and Counselor.

"Kids can earn college credit in high school, taught by teachers who have the credentials to teach at high school and in college," said Ponn.

The teachers who teach the class have master's degrees and are vetted through ACC, said Ponn.

"I think we saved $318,000 for families in this community," said Ponn, referring to the estimated tuition savings.

CE allows kids to take college-level courses at the high school, at ACC's main campus in Littleton, or the satellite campuses in Lone Tree and Castle Rock.

"I'm extremely proud because their success is based on their dedication."

One of the first students to earn an associate's degree through the CE program is Lacy Antinora. She graduated from EHS last year and will be attending KU in the fall.

"Basically, my junior year, I loaded up on any classes that I could take. So, pretty much all of my high school credits were out of the way," said Antinora. "Getting things out of the way my junior year was the biggest blessing too. Because I was just able to focus on my ACC classes."

Antinora was a three-sport athlete at Elizabeth, playing basketball, soccer, and was the girls' flag football quarterback. With that workload, she was still able to attain an associate's degree.

"I was able to schedule all of my classes in the morning and make it back for games, and so really it was a scheduling thing," she said.

Because of the success of concurrent education, school officials hope to expand the program even more in the future.

"It's all up to them. It's not that we are forcing it on them; they're the ones who are self-driven," said Ponn.