Humanities Academy at Central Regional To Open In Late Summer

An innovative partnership with Georgian Court University will allow Central Regional students to take college courses while still in high school starting in August.

College-level courses in the humanities field – literature, economics and psychology – will be offered to Central Regional seniors starting in late summer according to Central Regional Superintendent  Triantafillos “Tom’’ Parlapanides.

The program will be funded with monies the district receives from the state for being a choice school. Parlapanides said. Central Regional receives $14,300 per choice student. There are 61 choice students presently enrolled at Central. Next fall, Central is expected to begin classes near, or at, its maximum of 78 choice students.

“We wanted to offer courses that would be easily transferable to most colleges and universities across the country,’’ Parlapanides said. “These are courses that most college freshman have to take.’’

Parlapanides said seniors will be able to take as many as nine college credits in each of the two semesters. Eventually Parlapanides hopes to offer as many as 24 college credits.

“With the cost of tuition between $30,000 and $50,000 that’s one year of college for free,’’ Parlapanides said.

The program will follow the Ocean County College calendar. While on winter break, students in the collegiate program will be offered the opportunity to serve as interns with Berkeley Township, Seaside Heights and Seaside Park.

Parlapanides said he is hoping to partner with Island Heights and Ocean Gate – all sending districts to Central Regional – as well. Parlapanides said he is also reaching out to local military bases for potential internship programs.

“An internship with a municipality should look good on any student’s resume or college application,’’ Parlapanides said.

Parlapanides said the goal of the program is to offer it to Central Regional juniors in August of 2013 and possibly ninth and tenth graders in future years.  He also hopes to offer a science component in 2013.

Parlapanides said 20 to 25 students will be accepted into the initial college program. Twenty have applied thus far, Parlapanides said.

Getting into the Humanities Academy isn't easy. Students are required to write an essay, take an Accuplacer college entry exam and go through an interview process before being accepted.

“It is a very tedious process,’’ Parlapanides said. “The students need to be in the top five percent of their class. These are college courses being taught by college professors. Students will not only have to meet the college requirements, but their high school requirements as well.’’

To meet the needs of the college courses, Central Regional has modernized one classroom.

“It’s going to have all the bells and whistles,’’ Parlapanides said. “The furniture will be all new. The classroom will have WiFi, surround sound, lightboxes for computers and on-screen presentations.

“The classroom should be ready in two or three weeks,’’ Parlapanides said.

Parlapanides said the money received from choice students is also being used to update many other areas of the high school.

“In years where our budgets were defeated we were forced to make cuts,’’ Parlapanides said. “This gives us the chance to make some much-needed upgrades.

“We are going to put wireless internet service throughout the building and make technology improvements. This is an exciting time for us at Central and a wonderful opportunity for our students.’’