Christian Brothers Academy is excited to continue the expansion of the Dual Enrollment Program with Manhattan College, a fellow Lasallian institution.

The Dual Enrollment Program affords students the opportunity to earn Manhattan College credits by taking Manhattan College-approved courses within the CBA curriculum. CBA students take these classes at the Academy, which are taught by CBA teachers who have been vetted and approved by department chairs at Manhattan College.

“The dual enrollment program is important for a college preparatory school like CBA as it acknowledges and rewards the rigor of the coursework on the junior and senior grade levels as well as the exemplary efforts of our faculty,” said Associate Principal Sean Nunan. “Pragmatically, it provides a potential benefit to the families of the students who take part in it as they earn college credits that in many cases will be accepted by the colleges these students eventually attend.”

Since the program began in 2018-2019, CBA students have experienced great success with their dual enrollment courses. In fact, 95 percent of students earned an A or A- in these course for 2020-2021.

This year, courses available include Spanish 4, Spanish 4 Honors, US History II Honors, Theology 3, Theology 3 Honors, Theology 4, and Theology 4 Honors. The eighth course, Intro to Digital Systems, is the first dual enrollment course at CBA that uses Manhattan College’s syllabus for instruction.

Academy men enrolled in one of these courses earn 3.0 college credits through Manhattan College.

Dr. Melissa Widdis, longtime Spanish faculty member, is a teacher of the Spanish dual enrollment classes and has had the opportunity to be observed by the Manhattan College department chair.

“The department chair who observed my classes told me she was very impressed with the level and participation of our students, and felt confident in the equivalency of their knowledge to that of Manhattan students in similar level classes,” Widdis said.

A major benefit of the program is students’ ability to level up in that subject area once they enroll in the college of their choice.

“I think this program is important, particularly in Spanish, as it helps our students to get ahead academically as they begin college,” Widdis said. “By placing into a higher level of Spanish, students have the opportunity to earn a Minor or even a double Major in Spanish more easily because they start off already having some credits toward those programs.”

As for the future of the program, Nunan believes there is plenty of room for expansion based on the enthusiasm for the courses.

“CBA department chairs determine which existing CBA courses have the potential to be evaluated as dual enrollment courses and then share these syllabi with the relevant department chairs at Manhattan, who determine if they can be paired with existing coursework in the Manhattan curriculum,” Nunan said. “I am also very interested in adopting more existing Manhattan College syllabi as CBA courses, building upon the example of Introduction to Digital Systems.”