‘I really want to impact students’ lives’: Bark River-Harris partners with NMU to offer dual enrollment class

HARRIS, Mich. (WLUC) - Bark River-Harris students have a new opportunity to get ahead on their college credits.

This dual enrollment class is called Schooling in America and is targeted toward students looking to teach someday.

“Often times we’re kind of more based on the Common Core,” said Ashleigh Davis, a senior at Bark River-Harris High School. “Math, English, science, those kinds of things. It’s really great to have specialized classes for students who want to go into different careers.”

Davis is in the class to begin her career in education and one of her classmates is Charlie Guenette.

“I really want to impact students’ lives,” said Guenette, a junior at Bark River-Harris High School. “Going through the school system, I’ve seen some flaws for sure and how I can make it better and make class more interesting for students and that’s what I want to do.”

The class is made possible by a partnership with Northern Michigan University and it’s taught by the high school’s principal.

“I graduated from Northern with my master’s degree in educational administration and also my education specialist degrees so I am currently qualified to teach this class,” said Travis Depuydt, the principal at Bark River-Harris High School. “I am the one instructing it this semester.”

NMU said this is exactly like a class taught on its campus, only at a different location.

“Helping to generate interest and some passion and curiosity around the history of education to motivate people to potentially become teachers,” said Joe Lubig, the associate dean of teacher education at NMU.

Bark River-Harris hopes to offer more dual enrollment classes in the future, such as psychology. For now, dual enrollment is only available to upperclassmen at Bark River-Harris and Hannahville Nah Tah Wahsh School.

College credits earned could transfer to any major university in the U.S.

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