Spring Break
DU Governor's school canceled
Chelsea Plushanski
Issue date: 4/3/09 Section: News
The Drexel University Computing Academy, launched in March 2009, has not been recognized as an alternative Pennsylvania Governor's School by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, due to its failure to meet PDE criteria.
DUCA is a replacement program for one of the eight cancelled Governor's schools, specifically the Pennsylvania Governor's School for Information, Society and Technology, which has been held at Drexel University from 1988 to 2008.
According to Leah Harris, assistant press secretary for the PDE, programs like DUCA that are opened to replace the canceled Governor's schools must meet several academic and financial criteria. Harris said one of these requirements is the reservation of 20 percent of seats for low-income students, which Drexel has not met.
Until Drexel meets this requirement, the PDE will not forward applications submitted by high school students to PGSIST to DUCA, Harris said.
[Drexel has] no mechanism to identify financial needs of students at this late date, David Fenske, dean of the iSchool at Drexel, said, adding that, therefore, Drexel cannot meet this requirement.
According to Fenske, DUCA will cost $4,000 dollars for the five-week program, but Drexel is offering a $3,000 rebate to all students who subsequently come to Drexel. DUCA's future at Drexel is not set in stone.
"We are putting forth a substantial effort," Fenske said.
According to Fenske, DUCA will accept applications until May 1, after which it will make a judgment to see if it is close enough to break even.
Fenske said DUCA was created when it became clear that there would most likely not be a Governor's school at Drexel in the summer of 2009.
"Even in today's economy [Drexel] has more job opportunities for information technology co-op students than students to fill them," Fenske said. "Technology touches just about every knowledge profession that exists today. So producing enough students is a national issue of great economic concern."
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Web site PGSIST, which DUCA is replacing, was one of eight Governor's schools that offered a 5-week full scholarship program to selected high school students based solely on merit.
"DUCA sounds like a great opportunity for high school students to get exposed to the field of technical science," Sonia Havens, a sophomore digital media major, said.
Harris also said the Governor's schools were canceled due to the "current economic crisis," and that the program was not "essential." Money from the programs will be used to fund basic education subsidiaries. However, the government hopes to reinstate the Governor's school in better economic times, she added.
DUCA is a replacement program for one of the eight cancelled Governor's schools, specifically the Pennsylvania Governor's School for Information, Society and Technology, which has been held at Drexel University from 1988 to 2008.
According to Leah Harris, assistant press secretary for the PDE, programs like DUCA that are opened to replace the canceled Governor's schools must meet several academic and financial criteria. Harris said one of these requirements is the reservation of 20 percent of seats for low-income students, which Drexel has not met.
Until Drexel meets this requirement, the PDE will not forward applications submitted by high school students to PGSIST to DUCA, Harris said.
[Drexel has] no mechanism to identify financial needs of students at this late date, David Fenske, dean of the iSchool at Drexel, said, adding that, therefore, Drexel cannot meet this requirement.
According to Fenske, DUCA will cost $4,000 dollars for the five-week program, but Drexel is offering a $3,000 rebate to all students who subsequently come to Drexel. DUCA's future at Drexel is not set in stone.
"We are putting forth a substantial effort," Fenske said.
According to Fenske, DUCA will accept applications until May 1, after which it will make a judgment to see if it is close enough to break even.
Fenske said DUCA was created when it became clear that there would most likely not be a Governor's school at Drexel in the summer of 2009.
"Even in today's economy [Drexel] has more job opportunities for information technology co-op students than students to fill them," Fenske said. "Technology touches just about every knowledge profession that exists today. So producing enough students is a national issue of great economic concern."
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Web site PGSIST, which DUCA is replacing, was one of eight Governor's schools that offered a 5-week full scholarship program to selected high school students based solely on merit.
"DUCA sounds like a great opportunity for high school students to get exposed to the field of technical science," Sonia Havens, a sophomore digital media major, said.
Harris also said the Governor's schools were canceled due to the "current economic crisis," and that the program was not "essential." Money from the programs will be used to fund basic education subsidiaries. However, the government hopes to reinstate the Governor's school in better economic times, she added.
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