Four current Junior students will be celebrating two graduations during their time at RHS. These students will be graduating from high school and will also earn their associate degrees from Triton College. Each student had the opportunity to select which associate degree they wished to pursue.
Ridgewood High School Assistant Principal, Dr.Eric Lasky has been working on getting this partnership in motion over the course of the past two years.
“I have been working on this over the past two years along with Superintendent Dr. Kelsall. This past year I had monthly meetings with the Vice Presidents of Academic Affairs (Susan Campos) and Associate Vice President of Academic Innovation and Workforce Learning (Paul Jenson) at Triton College,” said Dr. Lasky. “In our meeting we looked at several scenarios of how this program could look, what support our students would need, scheduling, recruiting and logistics.”
The following four students are students at both Triton and Ridgewood at the same time; Patricia Basisty, Stephanie Bustos, Amelia Oldak and Tetyana Semehan. These students all are working hard to get a head-start in their college education by taking free dual enrollment classes offered through Triton College. On average, they have completed 9 credits already at Ridgewood and will be completing the rest at Triton over the next two years.
“Being able to complete your associate degree while in high school is an amazing opportunity for our students and allows Ridgewood to provide students with individual experiences based on their goals and post-secondary plans,” boosted Dr. Lasky. “I wish my own kids would have this opportunity at the high school they are going to be attending. The students that complete this program will be saving so much time and money on their college education.”