Officials Re-evaluate SySTEMic Program in Local Schools

The fate of a program that offers free college credits to high school juniors and seniors is clouded because it lacks enough participates.

The NOVA Dual Enrollment STEM Academy allows students from Osbourn High School in Manassas and Manassas Park High School to take college credits at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) during the summer months and school year. 

Those credits could be applied toward a certificate or an associates degree in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, where there is a projected shortage of workers.  It would also put them on the path to undergraduate or master's degrees in the STEM field, program facilitators said.

But the number of students who applied to the academy this spring was low, Josh Labrie, program manager for the college's SySTEMic Solutions program said. 

" ... We have completed testing for Math and English placement which reduced the number of qualified students further," he said in an email to Patch.  "We do not have enough students to run the full schedule of courses we planned and are determining what we can offer this summer and during the next school year."

Some of the parents of students that actually made it into the program thought it had been canceled completely, but Labrie said it has not.

Right now, staff is working to repackage a "variety of pathways " into an offering that is suitable for all students, he added.

The program is set to begin in July. Students may take two college classes per semester; if they earn a "C" or better they will receive college and high school credit.   Classes are held at the high schools and at the community college's Manassas campus in the summer, fall and spring.  Transportation is provided.

Read more:

All System's Go for STEM Academy in Manassas, Manassas Park Schools

College officials actually want to expand the schools SySTEMic Solutions.

In May, NOVA President Robert G. Templin Jr. and Virginia's Secretary of Education Laura Fornash spoke to more than 150 Northern Virginia education and business leaders about the potential expansion.

SySTEMic is a public-private partnership that connects school with businesses to supply them with STEM-trained workers.

Prince William County-based Micron contributed some $120,000 to the program in May. SySTEMIC Solutions is also funded by the Manassas City and Manassas Park school divisions.