Sinclair has been seeing some much younger faces around the school as more and more high school students begin their senior year at Sinclair rather than their home high school.
A program called Post Secondary Enrollment Options allows high school students to finish their education at Sinclair and even earn some college credits along the way.
However, one student has far exceeded just getting his high school diploma. Samuel Bowser, an 18 year-old from Preble-Shawnee, will not only get his diploma, but he will also be receiving an associate’s degree in liberal arts before continuing on to the University of Cincinnati.
Originally, Bowser had the option of taking classes with either Miami University or Sinclair. Bowser said he picked Sinclair for a multitude of reasons.
“PSEO for my high school allowed me to have two options: Miami University or Sinclair Community College. Due to Sinclair being closer to where I live, I chose that in the beginning,” Bowser said. “I also recognized that Sinclair was cheaper than Miami University, and I figured I most likely would not graduate before finishing high school. I planned to finish my degree from the school I went to, but I did not want to spend thousands of dollars simply for a few courses.”
Samuel also said that Sinclair has helped give him a taste of what life is like once school is all done.
“Through Sinclair, I have been able to apply myself in a real-world position. I go to college full-time and work part-time, like many other college students do. I also have been invited to the societies that are associated with Sinclair, such as Phi Theta Kappa and the National Society of Leadership and Success.
Sinclair allows me to become rewarded for pushing myself ahead of others, and the rewards are worthwhile,” Bowser said. “I have also met many other students that I may need to know later in life, whether it’s through jobs or simply knowing someone that has a special skill I may not possess. Sinclair has really affected my life and the way I see it.”
Bowser currently has a GPA of 3.9 and hopes to get a degree in architecture at the University of Cincinnati.
One former Sinclair student has taken very similar steps as Bowser. Allison Atha, an 18-year-old freshman, who is an interior architecture major at Ohio University, said Sinclair helped her get a sneak peek at college life.
“Sinclair has given me a college experience by taking college level courses, while still in high school. With doing that, I learned study habits, time management, and I realized what major I wanted to pursue,” Atha said.
While Sinclair helped Atha make a smooth transition to Ohio University, it also helped save her some cash as well. She said Sinclair saved her about $3,000 in classes and textbooks, not to mention the cost of having to live in one of the dorms.
“I enjoyed Sinclair because I was able to take classes that helped direct me toward what I wanted to do at OU. I took two design classes, which were amazing, and made me really want to do design,” Atha said. “I spent my time so much more wisely and more productively than I would have at high school.”
Atha currently has a 3.77 GPA and hopes to get a master’s degree in architecture and maybe even teach it down the road.
Both Bowser and Atha have received huge jumps on life, as Bowser will already have his degree and Atha had 28 college credit hours going into OU as a freshman, two away from actually being a sophomore. Both students have the ambition to succeed in whatever they do and they both started here at Sinclair.
Matt Summers
Reporter