Lost River Junior/Senior High School students interested in business will now be able to take dual high school and college credit courses and participate in an accelerated pathway to a business degree at Oregon Tech.
“It’s a great opportunity,” said Ivan Hernandez, Lost River’s business and computer applications teacher and FBLA advisor. “Business is something you can use in any career, and it’s another avenue to earn college credits while still in high school.”
Lost River is among six schools statewide to join Oregon Tech’s Diploma to Degree Jump into the Business program. Students who are active in FBLA and DECA business clubs and maintain a high school GPA of 3.0 can apply for the program online through their high school counselor or business teacher.
Oregon Tech business program representatives joined Hernandez last week to explain the program to students and parents. Oregon Tech also presented Lost River Junior/Senior High School’s FBLA chapter with a $1,600 check as part of its support of business programs at the high school level.
After graduation, Jump Into Business students who enroll in a business program at Oregon Tech will receive a seamless transfer of course credit and tuition discounts on their first term and the last term towards their degree. Dual credit courses that are taken as part of the program also would transfer to other Oregon colleges and universities.
A memorandum of understanding for a new program, Diploma to Degree: Jump Into Business, was signed last spring by Oregon Tech, the Klamath County School District and Klamath Falls City Schools. Lost River joins Henley and Mazama, who welcomed students into the program earlier this year.
According to Oregon Tech, the goals of this partnership are to:
- Reduce barriers for students as they work towards and achieve their educational goals
- Create new opportunities for students to access accelerated learning through dual credit courses at their high schools and on the Oregon Tech campus
- Provide seamless coursework from high school to a bachelor’s in the field of business at Oregon Tech
- Improve student success, retention, time to degree and degree attainment Oregon Tech business and technology programs include accounting, business management, health informatics, health care management, information technology, operations management, marketing, and technology and management. A new cybersecurity program also is expected to launch within the next year.
Jump Into Business will be the second academic pathway partnership between the Klamath County School District and Oregon Tech. The district’s STEM&M program at Mazama offers dual credits and academic pathways in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine.