STAMFORD, CT — Stamford Public Schools announced that five seniors in the Stamford High School Early College Studies Program will graduate this week from CT State Norwalk with associate degrees in computer science.
The students are Alfred Gascon, Ritchie Jara, Shashank Peela, Alec Stark and Nicholas Sutin.
The students are scheduled to participate in the CT State Norwalk graduation ceremony Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport.
According to SPS, all five students plan to continue their studies at four-year colleges and universities.
Gascon will attend Penn State University, Jara, Peela and Sutin will attend University of Connecticut, and Stark will attend Juniata College.
The Early College Studies Program at Stamford High School allows students to earn both a high school diploma and an associate degree from CT State Norwalk, potentially within four years. The program is open to Stamford students regardless of their attendance-zone high school.
District officials said the program launched in 2017 with 40 freshmen and now includes 141 students in grades 9 through 12.
Since 2021, 20 students have graduated from the program with associate degrees, while more than 200 students have earned college credits toward associate or bachelor’s degrees in computer science-related fields.
The program is a partnership between SPS and CT State Norwalk and is based on the Pathways in Technology Early College High School, or P-TECH, model, which combines high school and college coursework.
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