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News: Roane State Middle College is 'great opportunity'

Abbey Roberts

July 12, 2018

By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer

Abbey Roberts says she’d been looking forward to going to Roane State’s Middle College since she was in middle school. That’s in part because her mom, Roane State photographer and graphic designer Sandi Roberts, had been talking up the program.

With her first year of Middle College now under her belt, Abbey has rendered this verdict: Mom was right.

“I would definitely do it again,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity for people to see how college life works, and it’s helped me mature. It is so worth it.”

Eligible sophomores are invited to enroll in the two-year Middle College program. They attend Roane State classes in the mornings and return to their respective high schools in the afternoon to complete graduation requirements.

Those finishing the rigorous program graduate from high school while also obtaining an associate degree from Roane State. They can then transfer to a university as juniors.

Abbey, who turns 17 in July, said she was “super nervous” about attending Middle College and had been told it was difficult. But she came prepared to study, and it’s paid off with a 4.0 grade point average so far.

“We had to apply ourselves,” she said of herself and fellow Middle College students. “We knew we were going to have to work hard.”

Abbey drove to Roane State’s Roane County campus for morning classes in courses ranging from algebra to biology. Then it was back to Rockwood High in the afternoons to finish up her classes there.

In looking back on her first year of Middle College, Abbey speaks fondly of Associate Professor Eric Bouldin and his algebra class, adding that Learning Center Director Mike Hill’s English classes “kept us on top of our game.”

She said Professor Elizabeth Genovise’s English course was “one of the hardest classes I’ve taken. I had to go beyond what I thought I could do, but it was enjoyable.”

When Rockwood High resumes in early August, Middle College will also kick back in with a two-week accelerated course in U.S. History. “It’s super cool we get to finish in two weeks,” Abbey said of that program. “The professors are absolutely outstanding to give all that information in that period of time.”

Regular Middle College resumes in late August, and for Abbey, it means a couple of online classes as well as conventional courses in sociology and macro-economics.

After she finishes Middle College, Abbey plans to study at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville and pursue a bachelor’s degree in marketing.

Middle College Director David Lane is helping her figure out her collegiate options, she said.

The only drawback to Middle College, Abbey says, is when friends want to go out, she sometimes tells them she has to study instead.

Still, she said, Middle College is an “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

To learn more about Middle College, visit roanestate.edu/middlecollege or contact Middle College coordinator David Lane, (865) 354-3000 ext. 4223 or lanedr@roanestate.edu.

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