Copiah-Lincoln Community College hopes to expand its dual enrollment program at Brookhaven High School beginning in August to include career and technical classes.

     BHS students will have an opportunity to enroll in an automotive course taught at the Brookhaven Technical Center. The one semester course will be worth four college credits, and a Co-Lin instructor will teach the class.

     “It’s meeting a need for our community and the local schools,” said Co-Lin President Dr. Ronnie Nettles. “It’s unique and it’s a little bit ahead of what some other schools are doing.”

     For the upcoming year, only one class will be offered, a brakes course. Students interested in enrolling in the course should contact their high school counselor or the Career and Technical Center, said Dr. Gail Baldwin, Co-Lin’s dean of career/technical and workforce education.

     Three students have already expressed interest in the course, Baldwin said. The goal for the upcoming year is to have five students enrolled.

     The Mississippi Department of Education will be supplementing the instructor’s salary, which will allow Co-Lin to offer the course at low cost. Baldwin said students should check with the Career and Technical Center director to inquire about tuition costs.

     The MDE has been committed to helping develop this program as a model to build on, Nettles said.

     The goal is to eventually expand the program until two courses are offered year, enable a student to enroll in their junior year and have four courses by the time they graduate from high school. Thus, they would graduate from high school with their diploma and an automotive certification simultaneously and be ready to directly enter the work force.

     “It will give the students a chance to accelerate,” Baldwin said.

     Co-Lin looks for more students to enroll, but Baldwin said the course is on track to be offered when the 2012-13 school year begins.

     If that course proves successful, Baldwin hopes the schools can begin moving toward the certificate program.

     Baldwin and school leaders hope that success with the automotive program will enable Co-Lin to copy that success in other technical fields.

     “I can see some opportunities to grow,” Baldwin said. “It’s going to serve as a model of what we can do in some other areas.”

     Brookhaven Superintendent Dr. Lisa Karmacharya praised the program as an opportunity to expand what it’s able to offer area students.

     “I couldn’t be more excited. I know there is such opportunity for us to grow our vocational center,” Karmacharya said. “It can be a powerful tool for us to do good things to help the economy and help our children.”

     The Co-Lin program comes on the heels of a legislation recently signed by Gov. Phil Bryant, Senate Bill 2729, that calls for similar dual enrollment programs.

     Nettles the recent legislation targets students who are a dropout risk, whereas that’s not the case with the BHS program.

     “It’s not exactly the same as the legislation, but it could be a framework,” Nettles said.