Career Academy Is Ready To Help Students Earn A High School Diploma And An Associate’s Degree Simultaneously

CONCORD, NH — Granite State students have the opportunity to participate in a unique program allowing them to earn both their high school diploma and an associate’s degree in their senior year of high school.

New Hampshire Career Academy is a recently established dual-enrollment public charter high school that collaborates with the state’s community college system. The partnership enables students to earn both their high school diploma and an associate’s degree, a vocational certificate, or college credits that can be applied toward a four-year degree at a state university. The cost of the charter school is free to students.

Three community colleges are participating in the program: Great Bay Community College in Portsmouth, Manchester Community College, and NHTI, Concord’s Community College. Each school has its own set of program offerings as part of the charter school. NHTI, for example, offers programs in dental assisting, sports management, and hospital and tourism management, while Manchester provides programs in health information, education, business, and cybersecurity. Great Bay offers programs in veterinary technology, homeland security, and digital media communication.

The career academy concept was initially conceived by Frank Edelblut, the outgoing commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Education, in 2017, but has since evolved and expanded beyond his original idea.

Patrick O’Mara, the executive director of the career academy, has been working on an “admission push,” of sorts, and “brand awareness” for the school’s first official year of students. He comes to the job from a background in nonprofit work and management, including fundraising, with experience previously gained in Boston, Massachusetts, at Bishop Brady High School in Concord, and Franklin Pierce University in Rindge. O’Mara was hired as executive director of the school in January but was also tasked with rewriting the school’s charter, guiding it through the State Board of Education process, and establishing it as a real school before then.

Now, the fun work begins: Getting students into the program.

For the 2025-2026 school year, about 80 to 100 slots are available for students. Since May, dozens of students have submitted applications, and information sessions have been held all around the state.

“We're definitely seeing an interest,” O’Mara said. “I think most charter schools kind of struggle to find their place in the market. But this one, in a weird way, carved out its own little place in the market, because I do think it capitalizes and it can be advantageous for students who may have access to or may have issues with access to college for financial reasons, may be sort of what you were saying, that bored student who wants what's next, you know? So, the interest is definitely there.”

O’Mara said expanding from a handful of students per year to 80 or 100 has been challenging, which is where the brand awareness comes in. There is also an in-person component to the process. It is not remote like VLACS. In their senior year, students who participate in sports and clubs will still be able to compete with their home school teams through an MOU with SAUs, meaning they remain part of the high school community while also being part of the community college. He called it “a blessing in disguise” and some normalcy for the students, too.

“What makes us different is when we talk about the fact that we're not really a school, per se, not a brick and mortar, but we are a school within a school because we have designated staff on site at each one of the community colleges,” he said. “We have office space, the students are able to check in with these people, if they need a little bit of extra support or guidance, they're basically like second-round academic advisors for them. Because some students, especially transitioning from high school to a college campus, are going to need some extra guidance and extra support, and that's what our staff on site is there for.”

O’Mara said a big part of the last six months has been reaching out to students who were interested in the program, as well as prior students who previously had a high attrition rate, to identify where the successes were and address the pitfalls. Some students do not realize precisely what they are signing up for, he said. The application process is the first step in getting a sense of where the student stands and their understanding of the opportunity. After that, there are family meetings to ensure everyone is clear about what the program entails. Support from home was key — “students are going to be most successful and their supported and they're learning environment, but also at home. So that's really important to us, too.”

And, if everything clicks, with the student, their interest, their families, and the school and colleges, the opportunities are limitless. A legal agreement reached between the school and the community colleges allows students to enroll in just about any field offered. A student can earn an associate’s degree in marketing for free and then move on to working on a business degree or studying in the arts, with the first two years and a high school diploma completed. This would allow students to secure a job two to three years ahead of the typical college track, in their late teens instead of early or mid-20s, if they know what they want to do as a career.

“We have definitely more breadth in the programming now,” O’Mara said. “There are some restrictions, primarily to … these community college wants to see their own full-time, full tuition students getting placement (and) getting preferential treatment, obviously, over our students. And then, the only other thing that would put something on an exemption was to put a course of study on the exemption list would be the length of time it takes to complete, because we're aiming to get everyone in and out in two years.”

The program covers tuition, administrative fee reimbursements, and textbooks. Students will also receive a school laptop.

The benefit, though, for the community colleges is that there are more students in classrooms. It also works toward the state’s 65 by 25 goal — to have 65 percent of the state’s adults, 25 or older, with some form of post-secondary education, from certificates or advanced degrees, or acquired skills, by the end of the year.

“Obviously,” he said, “we're coming in at the tail end of that, but, you know, the community colleges, I mean, they've been a great partner where we work directly with the community college system up in Concord, and then they sort of delegate down to the different colleges.”

O’Mara commended Chancellor Mark Rubinstein, who “has been incredible” and “a great resource” for ensuring no one is hindered from attaining a higher education in New Hampshire. The three-pronged “approach of efficiency,” he said, is a benefit to the entire state.

“We're getting students ready for the workforce sooner,” he said. “We're doing it through the community college, which is putting, you know, butts in chairs for them. And we're able to do it at no extra expenses to the taxpayer because we don't rely on any property tax, just the already state allocated funds that a student would receive.”

Charter schools in New Hampshire also receive additional funds from the state, as well as the federal government, similar to the extra money SAUs receive for English Language Learners, free and reduced school lunch, and other stipends. O’Mara said that, despite the fear of some school districts about public charter schools, the response so far has been positive, with SAUs and counselors reaching out to him and New Hampshire Career Academy because students are interested in the career pathway at a faster trajectory.

“Yeah, so really anything so far that, you know, I thought was going to be a hiccup is a pretty smooth landing,” he said. “I think the biggest problem we have is that we're a new nonprofit on a tight deadline, and we have growing pains.”

O’Mara and the school have goals, too, which he called “pretty aspirational, in terms of student enrollment.” By 2030, the career academy is expected to be operational in every community college in New Hampshire, with approximately 600 students enrolled in the programs. This first year, he joked, was “the year of duct tape and bubblegum,” but focusing on Concord, Manchester, and Portsmouth, because they were easier population centers, appeared to be a good bet.

“We gambled correctly,” O’Mara said.

The business community in New Hampshire is also excited about the program, he said, due to the prospect of new workers coming to the jobs with skills, at a time when the state is aging and people are retiring. O’Mara is working with chambers of commerce to help ensure job placement for students and tailor their outcomes to their interests.

Students or parents interested in the program can visit the New Hampshire Career Academy website, sign up for a virtual information session, or complete the enrollment form. From there, an appointment will be set to speak directly with the students and parents about the programs.

For more information about programs and enrollment, visit the New Hampshire Career Academy website, linked here.

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