Story Category: Local Schools »

The St. Mary’s County Board of Education got a first-hand report on the success of the Apex program at Great Mills High School. Apex is an on-line learning program designed to reduce drop-out rates by giving students a chance to make up courses that they have failed.

The Apex program at Great Mills was funded by a grant from Colin Powell’s foundation and will be rolled out to Leonardtown and Chopticon high schools next year and expanded at Great Mills. Its success was touted at a recent public meeting sponsored by the St. Mary’s County Branch of the NAACP and Great Mills High School.

http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/27361

Great Mills High School senior Eric Jarrell Scott is headed to Mt. Olive College and intends to become a science teacher. Scott leads a busy academic and extra-curricular life. He was able to take advantage of the Apex program to take an Advanced Placement course on line. “It has kind of been a blessing to me,” he told the school board at their May 9 meeting.

Scott said his fellow students are taking advantage of the program to recover credits. “They see that education can be fun,” he said of the online, self-paced program that can be taken during or after school or during the summer. “The benefit is flexibility and accessibility,” he said, but added it takes self-discipline to be successful in using it.

Scott recently filmed a video that will be shown around the nation to talk about the benefits of the Apex online learning program. The clip was show during the school board meeting.

School Superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano got Scott to promise to return to St. Mary’s to teach. Scott said by that time computer learning will be prevalent. “It makes learning a lot easier,” he said.