By Eden Barnes, Staff Writer
Now that the first round of JumpStart students is now graduating, it is essential to note the long-lasting impacts of the program. While not only giving eligibility to students distributed to over-populated schools, once enrolled, the student’s siblings also now had the future ability to take advantage of the program. Grandfathered-in students also got hit with the wave of the pandemic, making it not only hard to be sociable but also difficult to form a sense of community when entering the building a year and a half late.
However, students who joined the program were prepared for the workload and environment adjustments, so these students were resilient when it came to making connections and being active members in the River Hill community. Sophomore Landon Moore states, “River Hill has been a great experience. It allowed me to meet whole new groups of people and be in an environment way different from the one at my middle school.”
Many students used the opportunity to somewhat follow in their siblings’ footsteps through River Hill. Sophomore Andrew Rodgers said that “at first I didn’t want to go to River Hill. But, they talked about the benefits of JumpStart and getting college credit and that my brother was going there and then I finally decided that I would go.”
He continued by saying “I wasn’t looking forward to it because I had to make new friends; however, it was enjoyable making new friends and meeting new people and getting new teachers like every other high school, the college credit was just a bonus to that.” He also gained the opportunity to “play baseball this year and it was delightful. That also helped me make new friends and meet new people.”
These grandkid students also got the perk of JumpStart already being present at River Hill, a more diverse school with extracurriculars and clubs being led by JumpStart students. After the program had been present for two years already, these “grandkids” were welcomed by district and veteran students of the program.
Sophomore Carolina Herrera says “It has been the best choice I have ever had choosing River Hill as my high school to be grandfathered into the JumpStart program. It has paid off incredibility, I couldn’t have asked for a better student/ staff community. JumpStart has been the best opportunity I’ve ever had and has given me the unmatched opportunity to thrive and take college credit classes during high school and save money and time in life.” She has now taken on many leadership opportunities throughout the school such as president of Hispanic Hawks.
She plans to continue her credits accumulation through HCC and plans on spending the majority of her junior and senior years at the college level. Jumpstart as a program has opened up many doors; from the graduating seniors to the incoming freshman, dual enrollment allows students to gain multiple perspectives, whether that be venturing to a new high school or the college level, it sure does give you a jumpstart in the preparation of for young adulthood.