WKHS offers a variety of specialty courses and programs for students wanting to push themselves; along with the school’s honors classes, they also offer classes marked as AP, CCP, and IB courses. While these three programs appear somewhat similar at first glance, their actual differences provide unique opportunities for anyone who takes them.
First up, is the school’s program. AP, or Advanced Placement, is a marking given to classes that are college level courses that students can challenge themselves with. As explained on the WKHS counselors website, “These courses provide a more rigorous academic load as they are college level courses being taught at the high school by trained WKHS teachers.”
At the end of the year, students who have participated in AP classes have the option to participate in the AP exam. “If you do really well [on the exam],” senior Cameron Cost explained, “you’ll get college credit, which will save you a lot of money… and you won’t have to take [that class] when you go to college.”
WKHS also offers a group of classes marked as CCP. CCP classes, or College Credit Plus, are also college level courses like AP. However, CCP classes offer both high school and college credits for students no matter what, as they are enrolled in a public university. According to the WKHS counselors website’s description of CCP, “students can earn up to 30 college credits per year,” with a maximum of 120 credit hours, which equates to a bachelor’s degree.
“I think CCP is great,” explained junior and CCP student Landon Wilson, “because it gives you an idea of how college classes are and helps you prepare for them.”
Cost, who is taking two CCP classes for his final year at Kilbourne, added on to this, saying that his courses are really fun, and they’re helping him save money for his eventual college career.
Last, but certainly not least, is the IB program. IB courses, or International Baccalaureate courses, are some of the most unique class opportunities at WKHS. The program is internationally accepted, and pushes students to have a broader understanding of the world and themselves.
“What I like about the program,” said Mrs. Baker, the Latin teacher here at WKHS, “is that it is more internationally minded than AP… and teaches [students] skills that [other] courses have moved away from.”
Baker, more commonly known as Magistra to her students, teaches both regular Latin courses and the IB Latin classes. She went on, explaining how the full IB program “encourages kids to take a variety of classes and not just focus on science or humanities.”
While all these courses provide students with ample risk and reward, it falls on the students to decide what is best for them and their goals. “If you plan on going to college or if you plan on having a college based career,” Wilson said, “I would take any one of them, because one, it saves you money and two, it gives you a lot of experience.”
“None of [these programs] are better than the others,” Baker commented, “it comes down to what the students feel most comfortable taking and what they want to do in life.”
