Several area high schools will start offering students the opportunity to take dual credit courses through Ivy Tech and earn free college credit this spring.

Last fall, Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington was awarded a Perkins Competitive Grant from the Indiana Department of Education, worth $85,000, to increase rural career and technical education pathways in biotechnology, according to Cook Medical Content Specialist, Moriah Sowders.

The course will be available to students attending Brown County, Owen Valley, Eastern Greene and Bloomfield high schools.

Currently, the courses are taught by an Ivy Tech instructor, though the grant will also provide training for high school science teachers to begin teaching the course in the 2017-18 school year.

In an article previously published by the Greene County Daily World, Bloomfield Jr./Sr. High School announced it would begin piloting two courses, BIOT (biotechnology) 102, the survey of good manufacturing practices, in the fall semester beginning on Jan. 17, and BIOT 100, the survey of biotechnology in the spring semester.

Eastern Greene Principal Doug Lewis said a course began there in mid January and has been going well.

It helps prepare them for going into that field, they can get a leg up going into other classes or straight into the workforce, said Lewis.

Currently, Lewis said the course is taught by an instructor from Ivy Tech once a week, and the students also login online daily for course work. The course will be offered by an Eastern Greene teacher next semester, according to Lewis.

Cook Pharmica also provided an additional $15,000 to Ivy Tech Bloomington to help launch and sustain the program in the future by providing funding for textbooks which can then be reused by participating high schools.

We have a mission at Ivy Tech Bloomington to help fill the local industry skills gap, and one way we do that is through partnerships like this with Cook Pharmica, said Jennie Vaughan, chancellor at Ivy Tech Bloomington. With the help of this grant, high school students can take dual credit classes in biotechnology, developing a clear pathway toward employment in the life sciences, an industry thats thriving in our region.

Tedd Green, president of Cook Pharmica said, We appreciate the work Ivy Tech does to help students in the local community develop the skills they need to enter the workforce upon graduating high school. This program is a true community partnership that supports the education of our local youth and the workforce development needs of the growing life sciences industry in South Central Indiana. We are pleased to be a partner in this program.

According to Sowders, Cook Pharmica has grown to 715 employees and introduced its new My Cook Pathway education assistance program in 2016, which provides employees the opportunity to continue their education at no cost to them from day one when with the company.

To find out more information about Cook Pharmica visit http://www.cookpharmica.com or to find out more information about Ivy Tech Community College visit http://www.ivytech.edu

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Area high schools to offer dual credit biotechnology courses through Ivy Tech - Greene County Daily World