Buckeye High School to launch new program for high school students to earn associate degree

YORK TWP. — Buckeye High School students will soon be given the opportunity to earn an associate of art degree at the same time as their high school diploma. The Associate's Academy is intended to be launched for the 2026-27 school year and is a partnership between Buckeye High School and Cuyahoga Community College. High school counselor Jen Wish led a presentation on what the new program can offer to students on Thursday. College Credit Plus is an opportunity for students to earn high school and college credit at the same time, Wish said. Buckeye High School already offers some College Credit Plus classes in-house. "We've had students earn their associate's degree," she said. "It's been kind of few and far between, and they worked really hard on their own to create a pathway with Tri-C or whatever college they've been working with to achieve that. We're trying to streamline that and bring it here to the high school to make that opportunity more widely available and in a structured way." In the Associate's Academy, certain students in grades 10 through 12 will follow a course sequence that will allow them to earn an associate of arts degree by high school graduation, Wish said. The program will feature existing College Credit Plus classes along with classes that have never been offered at the high school before, while using a hybrid learning model of in-person and virtual courses. "Primarily for this opportunity, we're looking at current ninth graders who would start this program for 10th grade, and then some 10th graders who maybe have already taken some (College Credit Plus) classes," she said. Specific courses will be taken along the pathway, Wish said. Class schedules will be individualized to the student, and they will still have opportunities to take advanced placement courses for the chance to earn college credit. "(Guidance counselor Amanda) Hogue and I, along with the Tri-C team, are going to work really carefully with students and families to make sure that we're providing the opportunity for them to get the credits that they need for the associate's degree but also be able to take some of the classes with have here," she said. There will also be an Associate's Academy lab every day, which can be used as time for hybrid learning, Wish said. Students will use the high school media center, and a faculty member will be there to answer questions and assist with problems. "We want to provide an academically challenging curriculum that puts students on the pathway to an associate's degree and then provide structured daily support," she said. "We believe that having a daily touch point here at school will help students to keep tabs on what they need to be doing in their classes and have that accountability piece for students." Wish said the academy aims to do the following for students: Help prepare college-bound students for the rigor and structure of college. Support students on a successful pathway rather than leave students unsupervised. Create an opportunity that is unlike anything else available to Buckeye students. "We're one of the only schools around who is doing anything like this," she said. "We're offering a really unique opportunity to students, and that's pretty exciting for us." To be part of the academy, students have to complete their Tri-C application by March 4 and turn in the appropriate College Credit Plus paperwork to the high school counseling office by April 1. For more information, contact the high school counseling department at tinyurl.com/4j5vwf3k. Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.