OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) – There are plenty of new faces on the campus of Oceanside High School with its incoming freshman class. But some of those new faces are in a new program in collaboration with the high school and MiraCosta College.
“I want to go into the medical field after high school,” Shayne Smith, a student in the new program, said.
These 22 pirates can set sail on that kind of path thanks to a new four-year degree program that started this fall at Oceanside High School. They are the very first students to join it.
“This initiative started out of the evolution of our really robust dual enrollment program,” Teresa Collis, the Career Technical Education Coordinator for Oceanside Unified School District, the said.
“We wanted to create a cohort that could truly get 2 years of college finished before they complete high school. So that they could go on to MiraCosta College and take advantage of their new bio manufacturing bachelor's degree program.”
Oceanside Unified said these students will graduate Oceanside High School with their associates of science in biomanufacturing degree and then can earn a bachelor’s in biomanufacturing from MiraCosta College.
Something that drew the attention of students in the program.
“Me and my friends, we all got the offer and we're like, oh we should all do it like this seems like a really fun opportunity,” Smith said. “I was like, oh, I’ll be 2 years ahead like I won't have to worry about tuition for my first two years."
Collis said that cut in cost is a bonus for getting kids on this fast-track kind of program.
“It's tremendous they're going to be able to earn their bachelor's degree for a fraction of the cost, which of course is a win-win, along with getting them out into the workforce even that much sooner after graduating high school,” Collis said.
