Last summer, Townsend Harris announced a “pause” in its Queens College bridge program for seniors and the start of a new partnership with St. John’s University (SJU). Through the new partnership with SJU, seniors continue to take college level courses for three credits each. Additionally, the SJU partnership has allowed for an increased number of sophomores and juniors to be able to earn college credit as well. 

Once the Queens College program was paused, the school administration had to work to ensure seniors could take both a college level English course and a college level elective of their choosing. Over the summer, the administration worked with multiple teachers to submit course syllabi and their credentials to SJU for approval. The result is that there are now over ten SJU courses available to seniors. However, some of the courses that were certified as “dual enrollment” courses were already being offered as elective courses at THHS, primarily the philosophy elective and the journalism elective. Since a number of sophomores and juniors were programmed for each course, this meant that those students were also eligible to earn college credit.

Sophomore Clair Kim signed up to take the philosophy elective and decided to register to take the course as a dual enrollment course. “Since [the credits] are transferable to many schools, and I am going to have to take it either way, why not take advantage of this opportunity being provided to me?” Clair said. Not every student who registered for the course needs to opt-in for the dual-enrollment aspect of the class. Those who do register have an increased workload and are charged a $325 fee for the credits. Since seniors are provided the credits through the school as part of the college bridge program, they do not have to pay. Sophomores and juniors who opt-in for the credits are expected to pay the fee.

English teacher Charlene Garklavs, who teaches the philosophy elective and was the first teacher to work with SJU to certify her courses, said that sophomores and juniors who can afford to pay for the credits should take advantage of the opportunity. “When you consider that these [courses] are official on a college transcript and easily transferable to other colleges, if you are already in the course you should take it for credit if you can,” she said.  

English teacher Brian Sweeney worked with THHS faculty and SJU to create the list of SJU electives that were approved this fall. He said that while just two courses are currently available to sophomores and juniors, the school plans to increase that for next year.

 “Our goal is to expand elective offerings, so that there might be additional courses that are available to sophomores and juniors that are St. John’s electives,” he said. Numerous courses could potentially be available as SJU dual enrollment classes, but they require teachers to submit syllabi and their credentials first, he said. With the current senior class now programmed for the year, Mr. Sweeney said that conversations will begin soon about how to expand these offerings for the 2026-2027 school year. 

Underclassmen taking these courses said that they would be interested in taking more SJU classes if available to them. “If the school had more classes then yes, I would be interested,” said sophomore Penelope Rodriguez, who is also in the philosophy elective. “It’s a good way to get classes done now, so that I or others wouldn’t have to do it in college.”

Clair said it is very likely that she would sign up for more courses if offered, as long as “the class seems exciting like philosophy [seemed].”

Ms. Garklavs said, “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for underclassmen to explore their interests by taking unique electives and gaining college credits without having the pressure to take an AP exam.  Hopefully, we can offer even more options to underclassmen in the future.”