RUSSELLVILLE - Choosing to challenge themselves, several Russellville High School upperclassmen are studying college-level classes, thanks to Central Methodist University's ITV program.
Beyond the preference for intellectual rigor, this handful of rural students also will be ahead financially and academically when they arrive on their chosen college campuses later on.
"By doing this, I will graduate with 28 (college) credit hours," said Kailee Stanley. "I'll basically be done with my freshman year of college."
And at $75 per credit hour, it's cheaper than on-campus costs.
The dual-credit courses also are weighted, which helps boost the grade point average, too.
Students also benefit from help from their high school subject teachers, when they hit learning bumps.
The college instructors provide help too, but at a college level, expecting the students to do more of the work on their own.
Of the seven ITV classes at Russellville, speech with 15 students and college algebra with seven students have the highest enrollment.
But they're not alone, as the ITV "classroom" links students at different locations together.
Cameras in each of the satellite classrooms allow the instructor in Fayette to see each location in real time, allowing an exchange of ideas and questions just as in a traditional classroom.
Each location also can see the other locations. So, they chat back and forth before and at the end of classtimes, also like a typical class setting.
"We've had Blair Oaks (High School) students say "bless you' when we've sneezed," said student Elizabeth Wyss.
There's also a mute button, when needed.
"It helps we can't see ourselves," Wyss noted.
Despite the similarities and enhancements, the ITV classes also might be easier to tune out if a teacher doesn't keep students' attention, she said.
"They can't tell if you're sleeping," Kailee Stanley said.
At Russellville, however, students in the ITV classes are "all good school citizens, club officers and athletes," said Librarian Susan Bell.
"It wouldn't work if it was just a cross-section of students," Bell said, because she is next door in the library, most of the time, after setting up the day's connection.
Professor Sally Hackman, director of the MITE (Missouri Interactive Telecommunications Education) Network teaches a dual-credit personal finance course to 24 students from Russellville, Pilot Grove, Sacred Heart in Sedalia and Bunceton.
"Each school alone wouldn't have enough students to make the course viable," Hackman said.
It is an IP-based system with HD technology.
ITV was introduced 13 years ago in the MITE Network Consortium, which includes Russellville, Blair Oaks, Tuscumbia, New Bloomfield, St. Elizabeth, Eugene, Jamestown, Prairie Home, Sacred Heart, Smithton, Northwest, Otterville, Glasgow, New Franklin, Bunceton, Pilot Grove and Slater.
Originally, "it was to provide classes that some schools might not have, such as upper-level math, science, and foreign language," Hackman said. "Today, however, along with those courses, we are able to provide these students with dual credit courses. Many students are able to graduate from high school with anywhere from three to more than 30 hours of college courses."
Such general education requirements include Denise Gebhardt's history class.
"I enjoy meeting students from around the state of Missouri," said Professor Denise Gebhardt. "I find that that dual-credit students tend to be highly motivated to succeed, and that makes my experience more enjoyable."
Her course is neither boring nor a good fit for the slacker; she sets a fast pace.
Students listen to her live lectures, often with amusing anecdotes, and follow along with the day's lesson summary on one of the two screens at the front of the Russellville ITV classroom.
Some students are taking furious notes as Gebhardt talks and others make eye contact for intense listening.
She stops periodically for questions and often asks questions to provoke discussion.
"I feel like I get more done," Stanley said.