By Matt Vines February 28, 2025
SHREVEPORT -- Ishmael Swiney can’t wait to soak in the freedom that college offers.
But the Captain Shreve junior isn’t waiting to start his college academic journey – he’s taking U.S. history and French for college credit this year.
Swiney was one of 125 LSUS students to attend the University’s Dual Enrollment Day on Friday. which celebrated local high school scholars who are either taking college courses directly from LSUS or for LSUS credit at their respective high schools.
“It’s been an amazing experience because I’m going to love to experience the freedom that college will bring,” Swiney said. “It’s been great to see what LSUS has to offer.
“I’m interested in politics and law and aspire to be a politician.”
Visiting students immersed themselves in activities in various campus locations with the goal of familiarizing themselves with the physical spaces in which they’d learn if they continued their college careers at LSUS.
Different student groups designed art using Adobe Illustrator in the Collaboratory, played games in the gym, explored different ways to think about their future careers in the University Center, familiarized themselves with library resources and explored campus housing at Pilots Pointe Apartments.
Academic exploration workshops included topics from nuclear stability and radioactive decay to social entrepreneurship to a cybersecurity simulation involving an escape room.
“We wanted students to walk away with an understanding of what being in college means, what that experience is like,” said Dr. Elisabeth Liebert, as an associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and academic director of the Dual Enrollment and Academic Excellence programs. “With that greater understanding comes the confidence that they can navigate the challenges of college.
“We wanted them to create those connections to our campus in the morning sessions before diving into academic immersion in the afternoon. One of our other goals is to really kindle a sense of excitement about the opportunities that college offers.”
Choosing a major or career path is a thought process that every aspiring college student takes, but Jennie Flynn-McKevitt offered students in her session a different way to explore that topic.
She encouraged students to consider what “challenge” they wanted to work on, thereby reverse engineering which career paths and skills can lead to addressing that challenge.
“Build careers based on your values and interests and not necessarily on what majors lead to which jobs,” said Flynn-McKevitt, director of career services at LSUS. “Job titles and responsibilities will change over time, but you can have greater ownership over your career by picking a challenge in which you’re interested.”
The day was filled with similar advice and insight into an array of academic and college navigation topics.
Dual Enrollment Day is part of LSUS’s effort to better serve its steadily growing dual enrollment student population.
LSUS’s 564 students in dual enrollment and academic excellence programs has nearly doubled since Fall 2022 (254 students), less than three years ago.
The dual enrollment growth mirrors state and national trends as places like Louisiana are encouraging more high school students to graduate with either college credit or an industry certification.
But Liebert and LSUS are also forging relationships with high schools across North Louisiana to support the state’s push for more college credit offerings at the high school level.
“We’ve developed partnerships with more schools in the last 18 months, including schools like Simsboro High School in Lincoln Parish and Plain Dealing in Bossier Parish while expanding offerings at a place like North Caddo High School,” Liebert said. “Our academic excellence program, in which high school students take LSUS classes either on our campus or online, has especially grown.
“We had eight students two springs ago and now have 89.”
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