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It's Not Supposed To Be Summer School, But It Is


Last Update: 7/27/2009 12:21 pm

Some local high school students signed up for classes at a local college that were supposed to be free, but, because of Ohio's budget cuts, everything changed -- and the classes were in danger of not being held at all.

But their teachers decided the program at the College of Mount St. Joseph was so important, it simply had to be saved.

"Figure how far you want to take it out," says an instructor.

The set up is to give advanced high school students a chance to learn more, learning college material, but in a lightning round.

"I get excited when I find something, like I discover something that I never knew before," says Maria McDonald, a student from Seton High School.

It's not set up to be summer school, but that's what it is.

"When my mom first told me, I was like, 'No, I don't want to go,"

"She's not afraid to express her views," says her mother, Kathy McDonald.

The students shouldn't be here, because Ohio cut the program's grant from its budget.

student

"Right now, I'm building a dance club," says one student.

"We're creating a code so our ghost muncher game will work," says another student.

To continue the nine-year creative learning program, teachers took a page right out of Maria's playbook.

"We often call her the weasel," says her mother.

"I can like 'weasel' my way into getting my mom to, like, let me do stuff," says McDonald.

"She looks at every angle," says her mother.

And so did the teachers. They took a pay cut, shortened the schedule from three weeks to two -- and added a $140 fee.

"I compared [it] to athletics," says her mother. "If she wanted to go to soccer camp or dance camp, we would be there supporting her."

So, in the end, teachers are teaching, kids are learning -- and both seem to enjoy it.

But, when it's time for lunch -- "Class Dismissed."

The students earn two college credits for the two-week course, and can use them at any Ohio college.

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