Faculty Reach Out To Region’s High Schools
by Nina Lalli and Matthew Green

With the help of some Oberlin College faculty members, doors are opening for high school students in Northeastern Ohio who hope to go on to attend college. At Tuesday’s faculty meeting, led by Dean of the College Clayton Koppes, a proposal to have continued College support for the next four years of a program called the Oberlin College Educational Alliance Network (OCEAN), was passed.
“One of the biggest challenges in our society is public education. Oberlin College, as a premier liberal arts college, has a role and obligation to help address major educational issues,” Koppes said. The decision follows a previous two-year experiment with the program, which began during the summer of 2000.
OCEAN works with what are referred to as “under-resourced” high schools in the area, to provide college-level courses supervised by Oberlin faculty members, who are required to visit the high school classroom at least once during the semester and provide support and advice to teachers throughout the year. The program is primarily focused on creating alliances with high schools in Lorain County.
“For students who are able and interested in going to college, there is very little that is offered [in many of these schools]...it is an important way to create some rewarding opportunities for students and to meet the educational mission of Oberlin College,” College President Nancy Dye said.
OCEAN students also visit the Oberlin campus, as the program is specifically geared towards helping students get aquainted with the college experience with hopes that they will be accepted and succeed at institutions of higher-education. Participants in the program are often encouraged to consider attending Oberlin.
“I strongly support this program. This is one way to address something about our surroundings,” History Department Chair Steven Volk said.
Koppes echoed Volk’s support of the program. “I think this will significantly enrich the curriculum of these schools. It will also make Oberlin College more visible to high school students in the area and for the public at large,” he said.
Many faculty members voiced the importance of Oberlin serving as a recognizble model institution in a region that is notorious for its largely inadequate and under-supported public education system.
“I think it’s really important for the College to take its place as a leader in education in Northeast Ohio,” Carol Lasser, a professor in the history department and the head of OCEAN, said. “There is a very good sense of reconnecting to what is in our area. I actually do believe in building capacity; being responsible to the community in which we work and reengaging in the community around us.”
High schools teachers participating in the program will be specially trained for the courses they teach. Courses are currently taught on three subjects: American history, Shakespeare and performance and statistics.
Students who participate in the program may or may not receive college credit, much like Advanced Placement Exams. They will be graded on a Credit/No Entry basis by participating College faculty. The credit will appear on transcripts as OCEAN credit, not Oberlin College credit. Even if students are not awarded college credit, they can still earn high school credit. About 10 percent of students are denied college credit.
“High school students lose nothing, essentially, by trying to do this,” Lasser said.
The courses do have a price tag attached to them. In order to cover basic costs, including small stipends for participating professors and administrative and transportation costs, high schools are charged $1500 for one OCEAN course and another $500 for two or more courses. Participating students are charged $50 for the course they are in.
Lasser noted that options do exist for schools and students who are eager to participate in the program but are unable to pay the fees. “We can be creative with them about ways to find money to participate. My hope is now that the program has been extended for four years, it will be easier to work with schools to secure grant funding,” she said.
By next year, the program will serve at least seven high schools, meeting the required number for receiving adequate financial backing. “The program is essentially self-sustaining once we reach the critical number of schools,” Lasser said.
“We have our torch lit and there are other people who need their torches lit. If we don’t do this, who are we?” Lasser said.