MJC degree even before high school diploma? Davis High student shows it can be done
Trace Thrall won’t graduate from Davis High until May. But through his school’s Middle College Pathway and additional work on his own, he’s already completed the coursework to earn an associate of arts degree from MJC.
He’ll participate in the Modesto Junior College commencement ceremony about two weeks before walking the stage to pick up his Davis diploma.
Launched in 2014, Middle College is among the special programs Modesto City Schools offers at high schools, such as Beyer’s robotics engineering, Johansen’s Agriculture Academy, Modesto’s Performing Arts Academy and Davis’ Health Careers and Public Safety academies. It alone won’t allow a student to do what Trace has done, but he also took several Modesto Junior College courses on his own.
Students taking the Middle College Pathway — currently about 105 of them — can enter as early as their sophomore year.
They take two classes each school year, on the Davis campus during regular school hours. Usually, the first-semester course is done online, said Davis High college counselor John Gahan. “And then the second semester, the MJC teachers actually come over and teach the class that way. So the students have a combination of (learning) in person with a professor and doing an online class.”
Middle College courses include health, public speaking, art appreciation and psychology, among several others. Students who are in the pathway for three years earn 18 college credits, which is more than one semester, Gahan said. But a lot of the Middle College students also take Advance Placement classes, so they can be well into Year 2 of college credits if they pass the AP tests.
Each Middle College course earns three MJC credits and meets University of California and California State University standards for transferring, Gahan said. “So they get high school credit, they get honors credit and they get college credit.”
The Davis webpage on Middle College notes the courses are not the same as Advance Placement classes. “They are superior in a sense, as students do not need to pass an AP exam to earn the college credit, nor do students need to pay for a costly exam. The students need only pass the class and college credit is applied through Modesto Junior College.”
The Thrall family lives in Salida. But Trace went to a parent participation preschool near Fremont Elementary in Modesto, which offers the Fremont Open Plan, also a parent participation program. The family requested an interdistrict transfer to allow him to attend FOP, and then Trace went from that into the STEM program at Roosevelt Junior High.
“I first heard about Middle College when Trace was going from seventh grade into his eighth-grade year,” said his father, Frank. “So I came for the parent informational night here. And I started learning about Middle College and talked to my wife, Meghan, about it. ... He came in his freshman year, wanting to do ag leadership, which is another program that’s here, and Middle College. So he kind of went from there.”
Trace set a goal of earning an AA by the time he finished high school, if not earlier. He took his first two college courses the summer before his sophomore year, so prior to starting Middle College. He’s taken more MJC courses in the summers since, and on evenings during the school year. As the oldest of three boys, some of the decision to join the Middle College Pathway was financial: College can be expensive, and completing courses for free is an opportunity too good to pass up, he said.
His dad agreed, saying Trace’s work may have knocked his college costs down by half. “The resources can be applied to the last two years of college because the first two years are taken care of.” Trace’s younger brother Emerson is in the robotics program at Beyer and also takes college courses on his own, and youngest brother Charlie will follow Trace to Davis.
The college courses Trace has completed on his own have been a lot of extra work, he said, and while he doesn’t regret them, they cut into his summers more than he liked. Online courses weren’t bad. On trips his family would take to Twain Harte, for example, he’d simply work on his mom’s laptop and still have plenty of leisure time. “But once I started getting into the sciences, like lab classes and stuff, I had to, like, go into class four days a week for two or three hours.”
Evening college courses during the school year kept him busy, sometimes meaning things like dashing from a water polo game to a big test. But Trace still has enjoyed a well-rounded high school experience, including sports and music, he said.
“I don’t think I’m doing anything that my peers aren’t capable of. I’m choosing to put that time and put the extra work in to meet the goal I wanted to meet.
“There were some classes that challenged me — I had a tough time with my last math class I needed to graduate. But once again, it’s just putting in the work. I think that was the big thing. I don’t think I ever came across a class that I felt I couldn’t pass.”
One of the nice things about pathway courses was the comfort level of doing college work among friends, Trace said. Thinking back on his junior year, he said, “I’m getting to do a public speaking class but with people I’ve been doing high school with for three years instead of dealing with a bunch of strangers in a college environment.”
Upon graduating from Davis, Trace will continue studies at MJC. He intends to pursue nursing. “I’m doing nursing prerequisites this semester, and hopefully this time next year, I’ll be in the nursing program.” His current course is medical terminology, but this summer will bring microbiology and chemistry, a couple of “big ones” important to getting into the program.
Trace plans to earn his associate of science degree in nursing from MJC, which has a deal with CSU Stanislaus for admittance into the university’s program. He’ll graduate with a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the Turlock campus, and at this point isn’t sure what he wants to do careerwise. “I may want to go further — into an M.D. program, possibly.”
To learn more about Middle College, go to davis.mcs4kids.com/students/programs/spartans-101:-middle-college or www.mjc.edu/instruction/teched/workforcedev/middlecollege.php.
