Collaboration in New Church Education
Bryn Athyn College partners with ANCSS to develop a dual enrollment program .
In its pilot year , the dual admissions program with ANCSS has helped 11 ANC seniors earn six college general education credits while at the same time fulfilling curriculum requirements at their home institution .
Officials at the College are excited about the way the first year unfolded . President Brian Blair says , “ Partnering with ANCSS on this makes so much sense . We love to have such high-caliber students in this program , and they get to graduate from high school with college credits already under their belts .” The plan was developed by heads of the respective schools – President Brian Blair , Girls School Principal Kira Schadegg ( AA ’ 77 ), and Boys School Principal Jeremy Irwin ( AA ’ 97 )– and Allen Bedford ( BA ’ 89 ), former chief academic officer and academic dean at BAC , ANCSS Registrar Liz Fuller ( AA ’ 88 ), and BAC Registrar Casey Schauder ( AA ’ 03 ). In this program , ANCSS seniors take two college courses through the span of an academic year , while simultaneously receiving the high school credit of a fully weighted course .
The first of the course series was Psychology 101 , instructed by Professor Kiri Rogers . Bringing years of experience in private practice and higher education teaching and administration , she led this group of high school students through a college-caliber syllabus that reviewed scientific methodology , the brain , consciousness , memory , identity , learning , motivation , intelligence , and the nature of mental illness . Relevant New Church doctrines were also analyzed and compared to secular theories of psychology . ANCSS Girls School student Sam Alden reports that her experience in Kiri ’ s classroom was positive . She says , “ Mrs . Rogers was really knowledgeable , but at the same time she was able to make us feel comfortable and free to ask questions and participate in discussion .”
The second semester saw a shift from psychology to Philosophy 101 , taught by Professor Marcy Latta , Ph . D . She had taught AP biology and French at ANC in the past and has more recently taught at Bryn Athyn College and the University of Pennsylvania . For this course , Marcy brought the dual enrollment students into contact with a rich syllabus that she found she did not need to modify or simplify for these bright and eager students . She says , “ I teach first a critical thinking unit which introduces students to basic principles of logic and argumentation , and then a survey of various worldviews , including Christian Theism , Existentialism , and Naturalism , among others . We enrich our study of these worldviews with excerpts from the writings of philosophers such as Plato , Thomas Aquinas , Rene Descartes , Martha Nussbaum , and Emanuel Swedenborg .”
Marcy is highly complimentary of the dual enrollment students , and says she enjoyed the teaching :
“ In the Theaetetus , Plato states ‘... for wonder is the feeling of a philosopher , and philosophy begins in wonder .’ I love seeing the openness and sincerity with which the high school students wonder about ‘ the big questions ’ in philosophy . They seem to readily appreciate that one can simultaneously hold fast to one ’ s core values , while also stepping back and gaining critical distance from one ’ s own perspective in order to examine their entrenched assumptions and imaginatively try on the perspective of another .”
Yuchen Zheng , a student from ANCSS Girls School says , “ I enjoyed both professors ’ classes very much , especially when they used examples from life experience . I enrolled in the program because I am interested in the subjects , and because of the college credits provided . I would definitely recommend this program to my fellow ANC students !”
Having wrapped up a successful first year , the College intends to offer a similar experience in the future . Hopefully , the bright reports from teachers and students signal a second year of robust enrollment . Rev . Thane Glenn , Ph . D ., the College ' s outgoing academic dean , says , “ The dual enrollment program is an opportunity to grow the innate connection and cross-collaboration between BAC and ANCSS . We ’ re all part of the Academy family , working on the goal of New Church Education . The more ways we can work on that together , the stronger we ’ ll be .”
— Angella Irwin
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