SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good afternoon, Bluffs Country. I'm Peggy Sweet, and this is Belonging in the Bluffs, brought to you by the Iowa West Foundation. I'm joined in studio with my good friend Tracy Matthews. She is the Chief Academic Officer of Council Bluffs Community School District. Welcome. Thank you so much for having me, Peggy. I really appreciate it. Absolutely. It's been a little while. It has. And you've got a lot of things going. We're getting ready for the last day of school, graduations, all of those things. So where would you like to start?

SPEAKER_01 0:27

I just want to say how appreciative I am of the opportunity to come here and speak about our wonderful Aspire programming that the iOS Foundation generously supports. You know, nine years ago, Dr. Vicky Marillo came into our district and she had this vision that every student would graduate with their high school diploma and this second credential, whether that be a certificate, a diploma, a degree, whatever would be meaningful for that student to prepare them for post-secondary success. And when we come to the end of a school year, it's always such a great time to celebrate the students who have actually accomplished this. And over nine years, that that percent of students just continues to grow. And what they're accomplishing really has been amazing. So it's it's just such a great celebratory time for us. And you've had quite a few graduations already. We are gearing up. It is the busy time. So earlier this week, we had our Board of Education meeting that was actually hosted on the Iowa Western Community College campus, and we were able to celebrate 139 students at that time who were earning a certificate, degree, or diploma from Iowa Western Community College, and they will actually be able to graduate this evening at Iowa Western before they even have their high school graduations tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

That's incredible to be able to have two years worth of college done already. Do you know how valuable that is? I paid a lot for the first two years, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

I couldn't agree more. We hear it from families all the time that just the head start that gives their families and their students to be able to either enter the workforce immediately if that's their goal, or to go on to college and shorten the time frame and the amount of money they have to spend on tuition after that is just incredible. We were able to award in last school year over 9,800 college credits to our high school students. And you just think about what that can do for a family.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

It's a like I just said, it is a great head start. It's a very positive thing. And when you are graduating, I can only imagine how these students feel thinking, you know, all right, I am already halfway through college, I am ready to go, I'm excited. They don't have all the stress of wondering what the first couple years are gonna look like. They've got it under their belt.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. It is such a wonderful opportunity for them. And to see what they are planning for their futures because of this, because those barriers are being eliminated for them, is so exciting. I mean, I know we've got a student who has her certified nursing associate certificate and her associate's degree, and she's already going to be pre-med at the University of Iowa in the fall before she's even graduated from high school. It's just those success stories that we know we're doing the right things for the students in our community.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

You are because we're uh short in certain areas in careers, and we need to get these kiddos through school that way, or the trade school, whatever, that way they can get out in the workforce because we're behind.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Absolutely. I mean, another success story that comes to mind is one that is currently working for us. Um, she's one of our 21st century coordinators for our school district. She is getting her early childhood diploma, continuing to um pursue her degree next year at Iowa Western to finish her associates while working for us and being gamefully employed. So it just feels like such a great connection to our community and we're we're making that lasting impact on where those areas of need are.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

And it's a great program that I presume, thanks to Iowa West, you're going to be able to continue in the fall.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Yes, we're very excited to have been awarded another year of funding to help support this endeavor from the Iowa West Foundation. Couldn't be more thankful for their support.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

And if we want to get more information on the program itself, can we go to your website? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Please visit our website at www.cbhyphenschools.org. There you will be able to find all the information about our Diploma Plus One programming and pathways and the wonderful opportunities available to our students through Diploma Plus One.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

And that website one more time is cbenschools.org, and you're going to get all the information on how you can help your students uh get involved with this amazing, incredible program, and then maybe we'll see them here next year, Tracy. That would be great. Thank you so much, Peggy. Thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate the great news. We do too. Appreciate being able to share it. Thank you. This has been Belonging in the Bluffs, brought to you by the Iowa West Foundation.