On Monday, June 13, Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) faculty and staff welcomed high school students, along with their family and friends, to the College’s High School Collegiate Scholars ceremony.
The ceremony, held at RCSJ Cumberland, acknowledged the accomplishments of nearly 1,100 scholars from 12 different high schools plus several homeschooled students. The High School Collegiate Scholars ceremony highlighted the growing number of dedicated young women and men who have demonstrated academic excellence as students at RCSJ while concurrently enrolled in high school.
Special recognition was given to 185 students who received the Achievement Award for earning their RCSJ degree simultaneously with their high school diploma. There were 161 students from Cumberland and 24 students from Gloucester who attained this honorable accomplishment. To be recognized as an RCSJ High School Collegiate Scholar, students are required to meet specific criteria—they are to be enrolled at RCSJ while in high school, earn 12 or more credits and maintain a grade point average of 2.0 or higher.
This year’s student speaker was Anthony Kukal, a recent participant in the RCSJ Cumberland Commencement ceremony. Kukal was chosen as a finalist in the 2021 QuestBridge National College Match Program and matched with Yale University. He was selected as one of the 1,600 Match Scholarship Recipients from a pool of more than 16,500 applicants. The engineering major’s scholarship at Yale covers the full cost of attendance, including tuition, room and board, books and supplies, and travel expenses.
With the rising cost of higher education an issue across the nation, RCSJ’s High School Option Program (HSOP) offers diligent young women and men a less traditional and much more affordable approach to a college education. Through HSOP, students from public, private, and home schools across South Jersey, age 15 and older, can take general education courses at a 65-percent discount to earn college credits toward an associate degree or smoothly transfer credits to other institutions of higher education.
For more information about the High School Option Program, visit RCSJ.edu/HSOP.
