Giving Students a Head Start on College and Strategies, Confidence to Succeed
The UA Early College program at The University of Alabama gave Christlyn Horst the support and resources she needed to excel in college and become an educator.
When Horst’s boyfriend got involved in UA Early College, a program that gives high school students the opportunity to earn college credit through dual enrollment, she decided to try it for herself. After going to orientation on campus as a rising high school sophomore in 2015, Horst determined that attending Alabama was her goal.
“I loved the culture. I loved how friendly everyone was,” Horst said.
Before her visit, Horst wasn’t sure she even wanted to go to college. She found standardized tests intimidating, and she wasn’t confident in her score.
“As I started to get more serious about my [academic plans for] after high school, and I wanted to go to college, I couldn’t get the score I wanted to get into Alabama,” Horst said. “It wasn’t because I wasn’t smart enough to go here or because I didn’t have the grit and determination to do the work once I got here. It was strictly just because of that standardized test score.”
In UA Early College, Horst discovered the pathway that would lead her to attending UA. After completing 17 credit hours in UA Early College and maintaining a GPA above 2.5, she earned priority housing and automatic acceptance into the university.
Horst, from Chelsea, Alabama, was involved in several extracurricular activities at her high school, but she was still able to find time for her college classes. She completed courses in English, anthropology, art history, psychology and computer science, but one of the biggest impacts on her was the UAEC 200 College Readiness class.
“I did not really know how to study correctly until UA Early College. The college readiness course gave me techniques that I could apply to my tests and assignments in high school as well as the courses that I was taking in the program,” Horst said.
The introductory class taught her how to take proper notes, manage her time, write a paper with citations, compose professional emails and other foundational skills that have impacted the way she has approached classes throughout her college career.
“When I started that, my grades in high school went up,” Horst said. “It taught me a lot of things that were the [reason] why I wasn’t a very good student. No one had taken time to hyper-focus on these areas that are the fundamentals of being good in school.”
Being able to pass college courses while in high school gave Horst the confidence to know that she could succeed at the university level.
“It was nice to have that comfort and that little thing to fall back on knowing that you were prepared,” she said.
Horst became an ambassador for UA Early College and attended several recruiting events, receptions and college fairs to tell high schoolers about her experience in the program. She continues to be involved, now helping students as a peer coach.
“I really do think the reason I was as successful as I have been in college was because of Early College,” she said. “I just wanted to keep working there and being a part of it.”
Horst’s love for education grew so much, she decided to make it her career. She will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education.
During UA's Bama Blitz campaign, the College of Continuing Studies has set a goal to raise $10,000 for UA Early College scholarships. With your support, CCS can provide life-changing educational opportunities to students with financial hardships. Consider making a gift today that will positively impact a student's lifelong educational journey!
