Peninsula College hosts Running Start Info Night

Posted

During the March 19 Running Start Info Night for the Port Townsend campus of Peninsula College, political science professor Dan Stengel clarified the advantages of the school’s Running Start Program.

“We’re not just a cheap alternative,” Stengel said. “As a parent of two children who went through Running Start here, this alternative is cheap, but it’s also a quality learning environment.”

Stengel said Peninsula College affords more face-to-face interactions with faculty, in the midst of a “lovely facility” at Fort Worden, a 500-acre waterfront park west of Port Townsend.

“Our Port Angeles campus is excellent, too,” Stengel said of the 75-acre site in the foothills of the Olympic Mountains. “Whether you have any interest in science, biology, chemistry, or even music, because we have a fine jazz program, you get quality at a savings.”

English humanities professor Wes Cecil echoed Stengel’s praise of Peninsula College’s class sizes.

“I talk with professors of statistics at the University of Washington, and they have between 300 and 400 students per class,” Cecil said. “At Peninsula College (in Port Townsend), you’ll get closer to 12. Your chances of passing the class become much higher.”

At the same time, Cecil emphasized that students can’t simply show up to class.

“Have you ever attended those classes where you could get an A without learning anything?” Cecil asked the students in the room. “That’s not our job to give you those classes. We’re here to give you the opportunity to learn as much as you would at Stanford or Yale, but you have to meet us halfway. You have to do the work.”

According to Cecil, not only are two years of full-time studies at Peninsula College $35,000 less expensive than the equivalent at the University of Washington, but he’s also seen Peninsula College students transfer to the University of Washington, then return to his school.

“Just about every year, that happens,” Cecil said. “The environment of a bigger school can be overwhelming.”

Dorothy Westlund, who oversees the Learning Center at Peninsula College’s Port Townsend campus, summed up its benefits to students, ranging from quiet study rooms to printers and online resources for research projects.

“Granted, we are 50 miles from the Port Angeles campus’ library, but that’s why we place a special emphasis on our online resources, so that students know how to find information and use online classrooms,” Westlund said.

Anna Forrestal, director and educational planner for Peninsula College, answered questions from the audience, many concerning how credits earned at Peninsula College could count at other colleges or universities.

While a two-year Running Start program can either count as an associate’s degree at Peninsula College or as credits toward a degree at another school, those high school graduates who enter another school from Peninsula College immediately following high school graduation with their graduating class will be considered first-year freshmen for admission purposes.

“But if you stay for one more quarter, you qualify as a transfer student,” Forrestal said. “We often have folks who stay longer than that extra quarter.”

While Forrestal recommended double-checking each college or university’s requirements to ensure dual-enrollment and Running Start credits from Peninsula College would be accepted, Cecil estimated that at least 90 percent of credit transfers proceed “seamlessly.”