How dual enrollment programs propel high school students toward success

Chicago resident Jennifer Brici graduated this spring from DeVry University Advantage Academy (DUAA) with a high school diploma and an associate degree in Networking and Systems Administration. She then enrolled at DePaul University to study psychology. Brici credits DUAA’s dual enrollment model with opening academic and extracurricular options she says her previous school didn’t offer—starting with robotics. As a junior on a mostly senior team for the First Tech Challenge, she organized the team’s tools and helped build the robot. When the team struggled with a self-lifting requirement, she suggested flipping the grip to do a chin-up, improving results. The team later qualified for state for the first time in about seven years.