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June 11, 2015Kyle Trickett has been taking advanced math classes since he was in sixth grade. When he heard that VASJ would be offering a high school-level math course to eighth graders at Our Lady of the Lake School the following year, he was eager to take advantage of it.
Kyle Trickett was one of seven students from Our Lady of the Lake School
to complete the Viking Edge program at VASJ during the 2014-15 school year.Although only in seventh grade at the time, Trickett was already thinking about his plans for high school and his goal of graduating with college credit.
“I thought it would be a good opportunity because I want to take two math classes during my senior year so I can get college math credit,” Trickett says.
He was one of seven students from Our Lady of the Lake School who traveled to VASJ first period every day for the entire school year to attend Ms. Jessica Linnert’s Algebra I course as a part of VASJ’s Viking Edge Program.
“We’ve been wanting to do this for years,” says VASJ Math Chair Gary Minadeo ’74, of the Viking Edge Program. “We felt a need to build a Viking bridge to the middle schools.”
In addition to challenging the students from Our Lady of the Lake with a more advanced math course, the Viking Edge program also gave them their first glimpse of the high school experience.
The eighth graders were integrated into a class with high school freshmen and given lockers right among the high school students outside of the classroom.
Trickett admits though he was excited, the thought of being in a high school as an eighth grader also made him anxious.
“I was nervous at the beginning because of all the older students and I didn’t know the school or the building,” he says.
It didn’t take long, though, for Trickett to feel like he was a part of the Viking family.
“I never had any problems in the hallways or in class,” he says. “Everyone was welcoming.”
It was the family spirit he felt at VASJ that led Trickett, who was undecided of his high school choice at the beginning of the year, to select VASJ over his other high school acceptance.
“VASJ was the better choice because I live right down the street and I liked the sense of community I felt,” he says.
“I thought I could stand out more here with both academics and sports,” he adds.
His classmates enjoyed the VASJ experience as well. Five of the seven students in the Viking Edge program have been accepted to VASJ and will be returning to the Viking Village in the fall.
It was rewarding for Ms. Jessica Linnert, who was in her first year teaching at VASJ, to watch the students challenge themselves.
“The kids’ confidence levels in math rose,” Linnert says. “It was a boost of confidence when they were doing their math and scoring well on tests. It made them realize, ‘Wow, I can do this.’ "
Seven students from Our Lady of the Lake School who traveled to VASJ first period every day
for the entire school year to attend Ms. Jessica Linnert’s Algebra I course as a part of VASJ’s Viking Edge Program.The parents of the eighth graders were taking note of this increased confidence as well.
“I talked to the parents at the Our Lady of the Lake graduation and they were so impressed with the program,” Linnert says. “Their kids are super excited to come here next year.”
Participants in the Viking Edge program will be placed automatically into honors geometry as freshmen, skipping Algebra I.
“They will be on the honors math track for the rest of their high school career at VASJ,” Linnert says.
This was exactly what Minadeo and the VASJ team had in mind when creating the Viking Edge program.
“Students can have up to 15 college credit hours by taking five college-level math classes without ever leaving the VASJ campus,” says VASJ Guidance Counselor Kriste Vedegys-Duhigg ‘88.
Through the state of Ohio College Credit Plus program and a partnership with Notre Dame College, VASJ students can receive college credit by taking Mrs. Megan Scheider and Mr. Gary Minadeo’s Pre-Calculus, Calculus I, Calculus II, Finite Math and Statistics courses.
“More than 80 students at VASJ will be taking advantage of the College Credit Plus program during the 2015-16 school year,” Duhigg says.
The number continues to grow each year.
The number of students in the Viking Edge program is growing, too.
Ms. Linnert’s entire first period class next year will be devoted to only eighth grade students in the Viking Edge program. There will be a total of 21 students from Our Lady of the Lake and St. Jerome in the Algebra I class.
“I’m really proud of what they did and I look forward to the class next year,” Linnert says.
