As it turned out, Brown, the son of U.S. Army Col. Jim Brown, picked up three college credits taking English 101, a University of Louisville course taught at his school last spring. The university’s Office of Military Initiatives offered the class to help children of active-duty soldiers move seamlessly from high school to college.
“Military families tend to move around a lot, and switching schools can be challenging for military children. This program is designed to help high school juniors or seniors from these families ease into college,” said Renee Finnegan, director of military initiatives.
Students who take the classes are not obligated to attend UofL, she said.
Brown, however, will attend UofL as a freshman this fall on an ROTC scholarship. He said he thinks the persuasive writing skills he learned in the class will serve him well as a political science major.
His roommate, Andre Wingate, is another Fort Knox High School graduate who took English 101 as a high school senior.
“The class worked out great for me,” Brown said. “I didn’t have a chance to take any AP (Advanced Placement) classes in high school, so it was really useful.”
Wingate, who plans to major in mechanical engineering, said the class helped him “explore what a college class would be like. I feel better prepared now.”
This fall, UofL will offer another English 101 class at Fort Campbell High School and a Math 190 class at Fort Knox, Finnegan said.
The university is collaborating with Fort Knox and the Kentucky National Guard on a wide range of projects, including research on post-traumatic stress disorder, job fairs for former military people and entrepreneurship training for veterans who want to start businesses.
