Crown Point High School students will have expanded opportunities to earn college credit and credentials while still in high school following CPHS’s approval as a Higher Learning Commission site through Vincennes University.

The designation recognizes CPHS as an official Vincennes University satellite location and extends VU’s collegiate accreditation to the high school.

“This opens opportunities for our students by allowing us to offer a broader, richer variety of Vincennes accredited courses while students are in high school, which means our students can earn more academic and technical certifications,” said Sabrina Ramirez, CPCSC Director of Secondary Education, during the August meeting of the Board of School Trustees.

The designation builds on an already extensive range of college and career opportunities at CPHS. Students currently have access to Advanced Placement, dual credit and 72 career and technical education courses. Over the past five years, dual credit courses have provided CPCSC families with an estimated $11 million in potential future college tuition savings.

The partnership also creates opportunities for CPHS and Vincennes University to identify additional courses and certificate pathways based on student interests and workforce needs. Vincennes University specifically identified expanding current dual credit offerings, exploring new disciplines and developing complete certificate pathways as opportunities available through the new designation.

“As we look at all of the student achievements through Advanced Placement, dual credit, CTE, I think it’s always very important to remember that we have administrators who are forward thinking with our programming,” Ramirez said. “Russ Marcinek and Lynn Alkire at the high school, Mark Gianfermi and Bob Phelps, who is the CTE director, do a phenomenal job of making sure that we meet the needs of all of our students and give them all of the opportunities we can while still in high school. This is a really great accomplishment for them.”