Jan. 15, 2025 The Office of High School Partnerships at Grand Rapids Community College recently earned certification from the Michigan Early Middle College Association (MEMCA) for its Early Middle College program at Kenowa Hills High School. This unique program allows students to complete high school and college at the same time. They apply during their freshman year and start taking GRCC courses alongside their regular classes at their high school during sophomore year.  After a 13th year spent completely at GRCC, they graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate degree or technical certificate, a year earlier than a more traditional educational route.  Since the program covers tuition and regular college course fees through per pupil state funding, students don’t need to worry about whether they can afford it either. David Lovell, GRCC’s interim dean of students, expressed his enthusiasm for the certification. "It’s the latest affirmation of GRCC's ability and willingness to partner with the community to collectively meet their needs. The credit for this accomplishment goes to our K-12 partnerships team, GRCC faculty and academic departments, and our great friends and colleagues at Kenowa Hills High School. It's a team effort, and we're very excited to celebrate this together,” Lovell said. Kenowa Hills is GRCC’s sixth partner high school to earn this stamp of approval – the result of four years of program planning and implementation – which signals to the public the strength and credibility of the program. “It shows that the kids are in good hands, and that they’re going to get a quality experience and a quality education through this program,” said Tammy Taylor, GRCC’s student navigator at Kenowa Hills, who was highly involved in the certification process. To earn MEMCA certification, Early Middle College programs must demonstrate that they include college-focused academic programing, as well as academic, social, and emotional supports for students, strong high school and college collaboration, and a culture of continuous improvement. MEMCA’s evaluation committee was quick to recognize that GRCC’s program more than met these requirements, breaking with protocol and granting certification immediately following a presentation by a team from GRCC.  They specifically praised the close collaboration between the high school and the college, the high pass rate of GRCC courses, and the program’s intentional recruitment and support of underrepresented populations. This doesn’t surprise Taylor, who explained that the ultimate goal of the program is to make higher education more accessible. “This is for the kids who are maybe first-generation college students or who are from a lower socioeconomic background,” she said. “We just want to instill in them that they are college material, and they can do it. And we support them all the way through.” This story was reported by Alissa Griffin.