Germanna Dual Enrollment student Meredith Alty, a senior at Spotsylvania High School, had received $368,000 in college scholarship offers recently – and she was still waiting for one more before deciding where she wants to go.
Roanoke College and the University of Lynchburg each have offered her $104,000 and Bridgewater College has offered $168,000. Meredith has also been accepted to Christopher Newport University and was waiting to hear its offer before deciding.
“One of the things that helped me the most,” Meredith says, “was taking the Dual Enrollment classes offered at my high school, such as Calculus, College Composition, and Physics. Those courses especially helped me prepare for college-level curriculum and gave me the opportunity to challenge myself in those particular subjects. The college credits for the DE courses will definitely help me in the future as well.”
She said Dual Enrollment faculty member Daniel Schafer made a difference for her: he “taught me in the DE College Composition course last year. He worked incredibly hard to be able to teach the course a couple years ago, and his work definitely paid off. Mr. Schafer is the best instructor I've ever had, and he improved my peers' and my writing skills exponentially because of that one class alone.”
Cara Ballard, the Germanna Career Advisor assigned to Spotsylvania High, says: “Meredith … is one of my seniors who participates in our DE and IDE (Smart Start and Kenan Recipient) courses.. she is very motivated and smart. Her commitment to excelling in these rigorous educational opportunities through Germanna while still in high school has provided her with many options after graduation, and in addition, has helped her to secure multiple merit-based scholarships to help her continue pursuing her post-secondary degree with much less student debt and stress. I am so proud of her.”