Starting in August, Saint Joseph Academy students can earn up to 24 college credit hours from UTRGV under a memorandum of understanding signed earlier this month by the schools.
Janna Arney, UTRGV deputy president, said Saint Joseph Academy reached out to her about partnerships with the university.
“We worked over the fall in preparation for the announcement that happened,” Arney said. “I’m an alum of Saint Joseph Academy and, so, had the relationship, knew some of the folks, and … they felt very comfortable reaching out to brainstorm opportunities for partnerships.”
The courses will be free and UTRGV professors will teach the students in their school. The courses include ENGL-1301 and 1302, ENGL-2341, HIST-1301 and 1302, POLS-2305 and 2306, and ECON-2301.
“We think that it’s going to give our students, kind of, a glimpse into the college experience,” said Michael Motyl, president of Saint Joseph Academy.
Motyl said the school received a positive response from students.
“Once we unveiled the partnership, we had a lot of positive feedback [from] students, that they’re looking forward to it,” he said.
UTRGV and Saint Joseph Academy officials signed the MOU on Jan. 16.
Students must have a cumulative GPA of at least 85% and must have passed the TSI (Texas Success Initiative Assessment) exams to enroll in the courses.
Motyl expects 25 to 30 students per grade to enroll in the courses but that number could increase to 50 or 60 if requirements are met.
“I think it can give me a head start in the college process,” Pablo de la Garza, a junior at Saint Joseph Academy, said about the new dual enrollment credits that will be offered by UTRGV at his school.
De la Garza said the courses can give students an opportunity to interact with college professors and give a taste of what it is like to be taught by them.
He said others should take advantage of dual enrollment courses because they are free.
“I know that the UTRGV courses here won’t cost us any extra, so we can do classes that we would have originally paid for in college, here, at no extra cost for our parents,” De la Garza said. “It can get us advanced and it will allow us to do more exciting things in college, like study abroad or [take] more electives.”
Arney said that by taking these courses, students will have a “leg up” when they go to college.
“What we know is that students who participate in dual enrollment opportunities, and they earn prior college credits before coming to the university, outperform those who don’t have that opportunity,” she said. “The benefit to UTRGV is that our role is to … enhance educational opportunity in the region and this is just another way that we do that.”
Motyl said the focus at Saint Joseph Academy is not just getting students to college but forming good citizens.
“The goal here is to give them some advantages moving into college,” he said, “and then let them shine once they get there from all the other things we’re forming them with here at Saint Joe.”
Arney said the dual enrollment courses will also prepare students and parents for the college environment.
“For us in Brownsville, this is the only campus where our faculty will go to a campus, but it is certainly not uncommon throughout the region,” she said. “Creating that college experience during that classroom is part of the responsibility of the faculty and of the high school administration that that student is experiencing a college experience while still in high school.”
Arney and Motyl are excited about the collaboration between UTRGV and Saint Joseph Academy.
De la Garza is, too.
“I want to thank UTRGV and Saint [Joseph Academy] for making this possible,” De la Garza said about the dual enrollment courses.
