Alan Kramer, Consultant of the Goodwin College Magnet School Program

Can you tell us a bit about the Connecticut River Academy and how the initiative came about?

The CT river academy is a brand new high school that will be opening up in the Goodwin College campus next fall. We will be opening up with 9th and 10th grade, and later add 11 and 12th grades. It will be a full high school of 480 students. There will be a brand new building that will be built around spring time this year, and it will be located on the south side of the campus. For the next two years, we will be in temporary buildings, right next to the Goodwin campus. Being directly in proximity with the Connecticut River, our theme will be environmental science, we want our kids to not only study through books and in the classroom, but to also get a chance to go out and study the river; They will study the species and the plants that surround it.

Will taking part in the Academy facilitate entry to the Goodwin College once the 12th grade is completed?

Our students will be studying at Goodwin College and getting college credit. When they are juniors in High School they will be able to take college course credits for free at the College, those willing to work hard can get up to a year’s worth of credits for free. The CT River Academy graduates will also receive special scholarships in order to continue their studies at Goodwin College. We see ourselves as part of the community and have all the intention in the world to help those people out. We want to educate students and at the same time attract them to come and study at both our Academy and Goodwin College.

Is this the first time that the Goodwin College has ventured into creating a program/school for high school students?

It’s the first time in the sense of this being a full scale school. Goodwin has offered scholarships to high school students and offered college classes to them as well. However, the range of opportunities that come with the Academy is all brand new.

The school will focus on Environmental science studies, is this something that the state helped to push, and are they funding any of it?

The state did push it in a positive way. Goodwin College has always ...