running start running start running start is a program for high school juniors and seniors to earn up to two years of college credit which will also apply to high school graduation running start has helped me in several ways it's given me a huge jump start giving a jump start on my future educational goals in addition to also saving money and time because running start is for those students who are ready to move on get ahead and really start pursuing their education with the only cost being the cost of books since they get state aid to cover tuition i'm able to hold a job at the same time finish my diploma at the high school and do running start for example i was able to take a political science class at the college have it count on his us government class at the high school and get college credit for through running start i've been able to take pre-med courses and in the fall i'll go on to uw to get my bachelor's degree and then on to med school my plans after running start are to move back east where i was admitted to dartmouth college i will be attending there this fall i was admitted under the early decision program and i'm very excited because i feel like running start has given me a great springboard to hop into the four-year college scene

because i feel this is something that's going to help me in the future i've been completely able to balance both a high school career as well as a college career i'm able to test my thinking because running start also provides the means to learn how to communicate better with a college level instructor to learn how to organize yourself in a college atmosphere as well as just prepare yourself for the future running start pushes me to be my best

the college atmosphere is excellent and what has a beautiful campus having studied at several colleges having taught at several colleges i have to say that in the northwest especially that this is one of the most beautiful campuses you'll ever see the buildings here at whatcom are very inviting they're very welcoming and they're always very clean and well maintained the construction of the buildings the layout of the greenery it's especially wonderful in the summertime when you can sit outside and study in the sun we actually put a lot of thought into having enough room for students to engage in activities we're wireless now we have wireless internet access as well as a beautiful new soccer field

the atmosphere at whatcom is very open a lot of the people are very mature and there aren't very many cliques we all kind of get along there are so many people from so many different backgrounds we have lots of international students here welcome has been a really great place to be you feel really welcome and there's so many opportunities for a student to join clubs it's just a very encouraging atmosphere for a student of any kind

while taking a full load at whatcom community college for two years now i've also been able to be the editor of my high school's yearbook play sports at the high school the flexible class coach will really allow me to pursue other areas of interest like martial arts and music i've been able to take some high school classes and i still stay in contact with all my high school friends as well as making lots of new friends here at the college some of my most successful students not only in high school and classes in college but they're also involved say in sports clubs and these are people who really want to get involved i'm a good student and i really enjoy the independence and the responsibility i have here at whatcom community college welcome has been a really great place for me to finish my high school work

for students who have high educational goals i think running starts the right program for them because you get a jump start into whatever field you're going into you know especially going into a major that's going to take you a long time might as well get those two years out of the way and you know really take advantage of it when i first got it was a whole new experience because i had lots of different people from different ages and backgrounds but i really really enjoyed it and i think i adapted well during my first week of running start classes i felt like i was the youngest one there but by the end of the week i realized there are a lot of running start students here at wcc and it's not a big deal everybody was very accepting and it was just a wonderful atmosphere

the most impressive things i find is the fact that there's an entire advising department that's specifically there to show you which classes to take how to move on from community college to university or into certain majors or onto certain professional fields one of the best parts of running start is the advisors they all three of them go out of their way to really help the kids find the classes they need so they can graduate on time and transfer those credits to the university i'm sarah pearson i'm a running start advisor one of my favorite things about running start has been watching students come here find their niche succeed and move on and go to exciting new places such as out-of-state universities in-state colleges and other experiences even abroad

by going to running start before going to a big university i didn't have to take all those entry-level freshmen classes that are 300 students and no help from my instructor i got to do them at running start with all the help i needed in a small classroom it's a lot of fun since i was a homeschool student i had a lot of freedom to kind of drive myself and get my get my homework done every day do everything i needed to do and at whatcom i felt like i had that freedom i much prefer taking a wacom community college course through running start with ap classes everything's riding on the one test that i have to pass whereas in college i'm being evaluated