On the Fresno City College campus, there is a small high school called Design Science Middle College High School (DSMCHS) which currently has 242 students. While attending this high school, students can dual enroll in FCC and take college level courses for completely free.
Dual enrollment at DSMCHS becomes an option for students when they are in middle school, and according to Kelsey Belmontez, a full time counselor and coordinator at FCC/DSMCHS, families will receive a letter in the mail asking if their student is interested in entering the lottery based process.
Belmontez said this program is not necessarily intended for “students to be 4.0 kids,” meaning they are not expected to be performing at that level when they come to the middle college high school. She said that DSMCHS accepts students that have GPAs anywhere from 0.02 to 3.5.
Students of all academic levels can enter the lottery and join their school.
Belmontez said their high school focuses on enforcing those kinds of beliefs, so that way every student understands they are college potential.
“What we typically tell our students, our freshmen, is no matter what happened in middle school, you’re still college potential,” she said.
This application/outreach process usually starts in December and ends in July, according to Belmontez.
Dual enrolled students can graduate with their associate degree in subjects like mathematics, liberal studies and other subjects.
Belmontez emphasized that students do not have to purchase anything from books to devices when attending DSMCHS, making their pursuit of higher education slightly easier. All textbooks are held in a storage locker. Belmontez said their school projects that approximately 92% of DSMCHS seniors will be graduating with their AA degree in either mathematics or liberal arts, in 2025.
“It’s amazing when [students] have adults on both sides, not just the Fresno Unified side but the Fresno City College side that believe in them,” Belmontez said.
Evan-Kyle Sackdavone is one of the students that began his journey at DSMCHS when he was in middle school.
Sackdavone is a first generation college student, and he was encouraged by his parents to seek out this opportunity.
The 17-year-old detailed his experience going to school on campus, and said he’s learned “how college works” through choosing to be dual enrolled. He mentioned learning to become responsible for his own schedule, and his classes referring to them as “things he couldn’t have ever imagined doing.”
“As a dual enrollment student, it does give you that experience, preparing you to be out in the real world,” Sackdavone said.
Sackdavone will be graduating with his associate degree in liberal studies, and is a Questbridge finalist.
Questbridge is a network that works with 52 college partners to connect high school students with the options to apply to top American universities for free and possibly receive admission. This opportunity is aimed for students to be given “extra space to tell your unique story as a student who has excelled academically despite financial hardship,” according to their website.
As a Questbridge finalist, he is one of 7,000 high school students in the competition to obtain a scholarship that is valued at over $325,000. The award covers the cost of attendance, housing, food and other expenses.
Sackdavone said he expects to know his results in early December. The high school senior mentioned Ivy League colleges that Questbridge partners with, but he said he wants to go to Stanford University, a private university in California.
He wants to pursue psychology and be a school counselor.
Sackdavone said what made him stand out to Questbridge is partly due to being a student of DSMCHS and the college courses on his transcript.
“I don’t think any other school could do that for me,” Sackdavone said. “It showed me, I could live successfully.”
“I have shown that I am more than just a student that’s here to study, I’m definitely much more than that,” he said about his Questbridge status.
