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Peoria High Schoolers Can Earn Diploma And Associates Degree Under New Program

Dana Vollmer
/
WCBU
From left: Peoria Public Schools District 150 Superintendent Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, Illinois Central College President Dr. Sheila Quirk-Baily and Church Women United President Patti Polk

Peoria Public Schools is partnering with Illinois Central College to help high school students earn dual-credit for college.

The D2 program lets juniors from all three District 150 high schools start taking classes on ICC’s Peoria campus. By the time they graduate high school, they’ll also have their associate’s degree.

Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, the district’s superintendent, said the program can have a huge effect on the likelihood of students pursuing higher education — and saves them money.

“This initiative [has] no cost at all to these 20 young people who are going to be attending this campus full-time,” she said. “And they’re still high school students, so they can still participate in sports and those kinds of things.”

A donation of $55,000 from Church Women United will provide free textbooks for participating students and help cover some of the tuition costs incurred by District 150.

In order to qualify, students must meet the same entrance testing requirements as college freshmen. They also interview with advisers from I-C-C and their high school.

Dana Vollmer is a reporter with WGLT. Dana previously covered the state Capitol for NPR Illinois and Peoria for WCBU.