MVHS held an informational meeting for Middle College during tutorial on Wednesday, January 17, in the theater. Middle College is an enrollment option that allows students to take high school English, History and Advisory electives at De Anza College from FUHSD teachers while taking college courses to obtain credit for college classes. 

Teachers from Middle College at the event explained the dynamics of enrollment at De Anza College, where a student would be required to commit an entire year to Middle College once enrolled. MVHS students who are enrolled in Middle College may only participate in MVHS activities after school as they are prohibited from traveling between campuses. The Middle College students who were invited to speak said that Middle College fostered a less competitive environment than the culture at MVHS.

Senior Zoe Handelsman, who previously attended MVHS, first enrolled in Middle College during her junior year. She says that the variety of courses offered at Middle College, in comparison to those offered at MVHS, led her to find her passion for architecture.

“Middle College allowed me a lot more freedom in taking courses to actually understand and explore different options available to me,” Handelsman said. “I was able to take a variety of courses, a lot of which are not offered here at Monta Vista, so that gave me the freedom to actually see that I was interested in architecture and figuring out exactly what type of business that I’m interested in, instead of being limited to core business classes and no architecture-based courses here at Monta Vista.”