Quincy Sun // Published March 28, 2019 // By Scott Jackson

QUINCY — High school students looking to earn college credit can do so this summer at Quincy College, which will offer more than two dozen through a new dual-enrollment. Michael Bellotti, the school’s president, touted the new Summer Bridge Program during a recent interview. The program will cost $100 a credit; courses at the college are generally $265/ per credit. There are no registration or admission fees though textbooks are sold separately.

“ We’re going to be offering college-level courses to Quincy students and residents. It’s going to be $100 a credit. They will get high school and college credits. They will actually go to class and sit in a college class with college students, ” Bellotti said.

The college has offered dual-enrollment programs in the past but this is the first time the courses will be held inside the school itself. “ We’ve had dual enrollment. It’s not uncommon to have professors in the schools. This is really the first time we’ve offered it in our college setting and at this rate,’ he said.

The program will be open to rising high school juniors and seniors; current high school seniors are also eligible as long as they enroll prior to graduating from high school. Quincy and Plymouth residents are eligible to enroll and classes will be offered at both campuses.

Five-and ten-week courses will be offered through the summer bridge program. The first set of five-week courses begin the last week of May and end by July 1st. The second set of 5-week courses commence the week of July 8th and end by Aug. 8. The ten-week courses run from the last week of May to Aug.8.

More than two dozen courses will be offered during Summer Bridge, in areas such as accounting, art, biology, chemistry, criminal justice, English, government, history, math, Spanish, and theatre arts. A complete list of courses can be found online at quincycollege.edu/bridge.

Bellotti spoke to the Sun soon after the state Board of Registration of Nursing gave the college permission to re-open its Nursing Program starting in the Fall. Bellotti called the decision a ” great opportunity“ for the college and credited Mayor Thomas Koch, Roxanne Mihal, the school’s dean of nursing, among others, for their work in getting state approval to bring back the nursing program.

“ We’re in a position to start reviewing applications and admitting students. It’s a great opportunity for the school to how Quincy and other communities that we’ve really turned things around and that we’re positioned to create a nursing program that second to none,” Bellotti said.

“ For us, it’s been a real challenge over the past several months. With the leadership of the mayor and Dean Roxanne Mihal – and everybody involved in the school – we’ve been able to re-establish this program as if it is brand new. It’s going to be rigorous curriculum redesigned, renovated, so that is can meet the changing landscape of the nursing profession.”

Bellotti assured prospective students the new nursing program would be “ here to stay” and would lead to employment in the field.

“ The program is here to stay and it’s going to lead to employment because it will be recognized as a program that reflects that changing nature of the Nursing profession. We’re creating the nurse for the future. We’ve got very strong clinical affiliations which are in place. Those are our partners in terms of on-site training, which will probably lead to employment.”

The deadline for prospective Nursing Students to apply is May 1st. The college will hold a series of information Sessions for would be students interested int he program leading up to the deadline. Mihal and members of the nursing faculty will be in attendance for those events.

“ It will be kind of nice atmosphere and environment for them to have a give and take with staff and faculty regarding the new program and the admissions process,” Bellotti said.

Quincy College will be able to enroll up to 120 students in its nursing program. Of those, 80 students will be able to enroll in the Associate degree in nursing program and 40 in the practical nursing program. Half of each group will attend classes at the school’s Quincy Campus with the other half doing so in Plymouth.

Bellotti is hopeful about growing the enrollment in the future. “ The plan is in the future to slowly increase that number,” he said.

BORN withdrew approval for the College’s Associate degree in Nursing and practical nursing programs in May 2018, though students set to graduate last spring and summer remained eligible to take the National Council Liscensure Exam. BORN had placed the college’s nursing program on approval with warning status in June 2018 with the school’s graduates passing the national liscensure exam at the lowest rate of the schools in the state.

Koch, who was named principal executive of the college less than one week after BORN’s decision last year did not appeal the board’s vote. Bellotti, who took over as the college president on an acting basis in November, said school officials worked with the state board from that point forward to get the nursing program back up and running.

The process included a site visit by BORN officials in November. Then, on January 11, the school submitted detailed plans regarding the nursing program to the state board. BORN granted the school permission to re-establish the nursing program at its meeting on March 23.