By John Howell Sr.

South Panola High School principal Tim Fowler brought his message of college readiness to the Batesville Rotary Club Tuesday.

“Our students are not leaving high school college-ready,” Fowler said. … “This is not something that is isolated to South Panola High School; this is something that is kind of an epidemic nationwide,” the principal continued. “What we run in to is students opting out of taking a rigorous curriculum,” he said.

“When they do that they’re cheating themselves because if you take a more rigorous curriculum, then you’re more likely to have a higher ACT score,” Fowler said.

“And what does a what does a higher ACT score translate into, parents?” he asked.

“Money!” came the reply from the audience.

Students with higher ACT scores receive more scholarship money, Fowler said. In addition, students who make low ACT scores in math and English, “they have to take remedial courses in college where they have to pay for those, but they don’t get college credit.”

“Educating parents” is the key to encouraging student AP participation, Fowler said. “Students have fooled parents into thinking, well, you know, I want to protect that GPA.” (Grade Point Average). “They’ll take that easy road that senior year to protect their GPA,” he continued.

“Students don’t get scholarships for GPA,” the principal said. “They get scholarships for other things, like the ACT. We’ve got to educate parents and change the mindset of what is important.”

“It is proven that the more rigorous a curriculum a child takes in high school, the better prepared for college and the more likely they are to graduate from college,” he said.

Fowler said that a Mississippi Economic Council-sponsored program called “Mississippi Scholars” pairs trained local business leaders with classes of eighth grade students prior to the selection of their high school courses. Business leaders help students see the value of taking more rigorous courses, Fowler continued.

“That’s where you come in,” Fowler told Rotary members and guests. “The Mississippi Scholars program helps you get involved in our schools if you’re not already.”

The Mississippi Scholars course of study stipulates certain courses, community service, and a 2.5 GPA.

“You as a business leader would be trained by Vickie Powell and others with Mississippi scholars,” Fowler said. “In the spring of the year you will go into classrooms at Pope and Batesville Junior High, you would go into eighth grade classrooms and you would do a presentation to those students showing them the need for them to take a more rigorous curriculum through high school.”

“We implemented this when I was principal in West Point and we increased the number of students taking upper level math and science courses tremendously,” the new SP principal continued, noting that West Point is an economically disadvantaged community.

Students who successfully complete the Mississippi Scholars curriculum wear an honor cord on graduation, an honor medallion and a seal for their diplomas.

“This recognition is very important when people look at that on transcripts and job applications,” Fowler said.

“We want to increase our ACT scores because that helps you as parents when your child goes to college; it helps your pocket book,” he continued.

“At some point you will be called upon as business leaders to get involved in our schools and help prepare our students for college and the work force,” Fowler said.

AP courses available at South Panola include calculus, literature, 11th and 12th grade English, physics, U. S. History, government, and world history, Fowler said, responding to a question. The courses are taught by SP teachers who have been trained and certified to provide AP instruction.

“AP courses are weighted so that they count more,” Fowler said, in determining graduate ranking at graduation.