Waltham High School Steps Up AP, College Prep With Free Course

WALTHAM, MA — When Mek Thomas was a junior last year he decided to take an AP class. It was more than he bargained for. He scraped by getting a 3, a passing score that will earn him college credit. But he wasn't exactly thrilled with the score, and wasn't planning on taking AP again his senior year.

"It was a bit of a struggle," the 17 year old told Patch.

But it was a combination of hearing school announcements, getting an email from the administration about a new free prep course they were offering AP students for a week during the summer and a nudge from his parents that had him reconsider.

"I decided to come, to better help me prepare for the classes this year," he said.

For the first year Waltham High School is offering a summer Advanced Placement (AP) "Bridge program" to support students in an effort to build the necessary critical reading and thinking necessary for successful completion of an AP course, according to Superintendent Drew Echleson. It is part of a larger initiative to increase diversity and overall access to AP courses.

"This ties in nicely with our recent AP scores that demonstrate we are increasing access and outperforming state and global averages on many tests," he said in an email to Patch.

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Folks at the high school started making announcements about the program at the end of the school year, sent out emails and alerting parents and students to the program, which would take students, for free, for one week from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. and basically give them tips and resources to succeed in the AP course coming up during the school year, help prepare them for jobs and college. Some 100 students took the school up on the program and showed up every day this week at 8:30 a.m for about four hours to work with the very AP teachers who will be teaching them in the fall.

They're getting a head start on their class assignments, and learning tips and strategies that will make it easier for them during the school year and into college, said director of the program Marisa Maddox, who has been teaching for the past 12 years.

Herlyme Das, who graduated from WHS in 2014 and then graduated from Brandeis in 2018 and is heading to medical school at Tufts was in AP bio when she was at the school and was recruited to help mentor students during the program.

Das, who is black, said Maddox inspired her while she was at Waltham High and helped her realize she had a love for science at a time when there are not a lot of people of color - or women - in science.

Das said she left Waltham High School confident in her science abilities following her AP bio class with Maddox and the more young people who can benefit from examples like that, the better.

"I think this program is so good. The kids are learning so much. I wish I had this when I was in school," she said. "The workload, the speed and the severity of the AP courses are the same level you'll see in college and this just gives kids a step up and at the same time giving people an inside look," she said.

And by all appearances, kids are getting stuff out of it, too.

"It's pretty good. I've learned a lot of things I wish I knew about last year, especially about time management and prioritizing," said Mek.

Mek said he was surprised at just how many students are participating in the program, too. About 100 students took the district up on the deal, which comes with everything from sessions on how to annotate properly to a visit to Brandeis to get a sense of what college life could be like.

Marie Balan who is also a rising senior at the high school and 17 said she'd been resisting the idea of taking an AP class for a couple of years. She'd think about it, and then hear friends tell her how difficult the courses were. She'd get nervous and decide against it. But at the end of this school year between the announcements at the end of the school year and a tutor who encouraged her to take the leap and explained just how helpful AP courses could be to get her ready for college she decided to go for it.

"It's pretty good, I'm learning how to manage my mental health and my time. I'm learning some skills I know are going to help me in college," she said. And now she's actually looking forward to the AP classes.

As for how early the courses are during the summer - a season of sleep in?

"It's not as early as school," both Marie and Mek chimed in.

Aman Hiregoudar,15, who is also spending his summer interning at the Waltham Robotics camp said this will be the first year he's taking AP courses and he's glad he's taking the bridge program. "They might consider more afternoon classes next year, though," he said.

Last year 235 students participated in AP courses and took some 475 exams at Waltham High School, according to school data.

The district wants that number to go up.

"We're making a big push to get kids who are typically under represented in AP courses," said Interim Principal pointing to statistics that indicate students who take part in AP courses have higher GPAs and better graduating rates and are better prepared for college.

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Photos by Jenna Fisher/Patch Staff