By Rebecca Harrelson, Staff Writer

Published in print Nov.12, 2014

The morning of Nov. 6, UNCG held the North Carolina Investing in Rural Innovative Schools Student Forum.

Chancellor Linda Brady, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, President of N.C. New Schools Dr. Tony Habit, a representative for Gov. Pat McCrory and two former N.C. governors, Bev Purdue and Jim Hunt, were some of the high profile figures in the audience.

The North Carolina Investing in Rural Innovative Schools Initiative is funded by a federal “Investing in Innovation” grant, private donations and support from the Office of the Governor and the N.C. General Assembly.

The program itself is geared towards students in each of the 18 rural North Carolina high schools, giving all students who participate the opportunity to graduate with 21 college credits.

Brady started the morning by introducing all three programs.

Brady said, “The UNCG iSchool Program…was created to extend early college online learning opportunities to high school students across North Carolina regardless of the student’s location or financial circumstance.”

Brady continued, “Between 2007-2011 UNCG iSchool generated more than 15,000 registrations, and more than 41,000 transferable credit hours throughout the state.”

In addition to UNCG iSchool, N.C. Investing in Rural Innovative Schools Initiative and NC New School were also represented.

Brady went on to say that the most important audience members were the students who participate in the programs. “I think all of us in this room, who have made education our life, understand that it is all about you— our students,” she said.

The programs are available through local community colleges and online courses are offered by the UNCG iSchool and the East Carolina University Early College Second Life program.

According to East Carolina University’s website, Second Life is a 3-D program in which students immerse themselves in a virtual world through online social communication, but remain at their physical high school.

Following Brady was Jarquez Keyes, a first generation college student in the program who introduced Duncan.

Duncan is the ninth Secretary of Education. He took office in 2009 following the nomination from President Barack Obama.

Duncan led with exciting news, “I’ll just jump right to the really good news first and explain it,” he said. “The big reason why we’re all here today is to announce an additional 20 million dollar grant to New School North Carolina to expand dual enrollment.”

Duncan went on to explain how the money should be seen as an investment and not a gift.

“I always say this is not a gift, this is an investment— an investment in your leadership, in your strategy, in your plan…”

Duncan spoke highly of the program’s abilities not only to educate but also to be used as dropout prevention, and to show those like Keyes, who are faced with the hurdle of being a first generation college student, that higher education is a viable option.

The programs tie together four-year universities, two-year colleges and K-12 schools.

Duncan mentioned that starting from a very young age is extremely important “so that going to college becomes the norm, not the exception.”

Duncan explained his thoughts on the positive force basic education and higher education has on students’ economic lives and futures.

“To all the young people here, I know you know this: if you drop out of high school today, you are basically condemned to poverty and social failure,” Duncan said.

He continued, “There are no good jobs out there for you—none. The economy has changed.”

“If you just graduate from high school—not much out there either. Some form of higher education—four year universities, two year community college, trade, technical or vocational training—has to be the goal for every single one of you, Duncan argued.”

Once Duncan commenced his portion of the morning, Dr. Tony Habit took the stage to moderate the panel.

The panel consisted of Interim Dean of the Division of Continual Learning Dr. James Eddy, as well as three of the program’s participants: Hertford High junior Janika Langford, Washington High senior Sergio Higuera and Alleghany High senior Patricia Hampton.