Next fall, 15 technology students from Hermon High School will take part in a pilot program that will allow them to earn college credits while working towards their high school diplomas. Earning college credits in high schools isn't new, but the way Hermon's program will connect those credits to career and technical skills, is. As Patty Wight reports, education officials are hoping it may become a model for schools across the state.

Educators in Hermon, like many of their peers, have been thinking a lot about how best to engage and prepare their students for the world that awaits them when they graduate. Hermon High School Principal Brian Walsh says their goal is for students to leave high school with enough career skills to get a good job and the drive to attend college.

For college-bound students, Hermon High already has programs that connect students to higher education, Walsh says, but for techonology students, something was missing.

"We have an agreement with Husson, for example, in accounting, with University of Southern Maine in our math department, but it's focusing mainly on those academic courses," Walsh says. "But it's not linking them to technical or career skills, and we think that's a very important piece."

So, Walsh says, they created a program where select students at their affiliated technical school, United Technologies Center--or UTC--will be dually enrolled in academic courses at Eastern Maine Community College. "And the idea is that what the students learn in those courses will then be applied in their career technical program at UTC," Walsh says.

By the time students in the program graduate high school, they'll have one year towards an associates degree under their belt. If they follow up with another year of classes at Eastern Maine Community College, they'll earn their associates degree.

It's called the "Bridge Year" pilot program, and it's a spin-off of governor Paul LePage's proposed 5-year high school program. Maine Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin says Hermon's program is taking high school and college partnerships to the next level, and he says department officials are eager to see the results of the pilot.

"The research shows both here in Maine and nationally that high school kids that take college courses while they're in high school are more likely to graduate high school, more likely to be admitted to college, and are more likely to follow through and earn a degree," Connerty-Marin says.

Principal Brian Walsh says the Bridge Year program further ups the higher education ante by connecting students to the University of Maine through things like summer programs. "What we're hoping to see is these students then matriculate into the University of Maine system," he says.

Aside from giving students job skills and exposure to college, Walsh say there's a financial benefit to the program. Students will pay just $20 per college credit hour, versus the normal $120 rate. "We're hoping that it's replicable," Walsh says. "The idea being that this is not just for Hermon High School, the idea being that if this program works, we could make it a program that was offered in many high schools in Maine."

Gov. LePage and Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen traveled to Hermon High School late this afternoon for the official unveiling of the Bridge Year pilot program.