Criminal Justice Academy gives PdC students a boost
By Ted Pennekamp
Prairie du Chien High School this school year has established a Criminal Justice Academy in partnership with Southwest Wisconsin Technical College (SWTC) in Fennimore.
The partnership allows Prairie du Chien students to typically earn 15 credits towards the 67 credits needed in the Criminal Justice Studies program at SWTC, said Karen Sjoberg, Prairie du Chien Academic and Career Readiness Coordinator. It is possible, Sjoberg said, that if a student completes both years, they will have earned 29 of 67 credits and saved $4,594 in tuition and fees. The estimated tuition for the Criminal Justice Studies program is $10,610.
The credits transfer to the Wisconsin Technical College System and many also transfer to the state’s university system.
“This allows our students to have a semester and even a year done before they get to technical school,” said Sjoberg. “It allows our university students to often register as a sophomore or a second semester freshman when they start at a university.”
Sjoberg noted that the school district has 23 total transcripted credit courses, in addition to the criminal justice courses. She said the district will be adding new agreements to the list for the 2021-2022 school year. Transcripted credit classes are taught by high school instructors and SWTC grants free college credit for those classes. No money exchanges hands. The classes taught by SWTC instructors have a cost to the district.
“It is very significant that Prairie du Chien High School students earned $176,127.51 in free credit in the 2019-2020 school year,” said Sjoberg. “There were 211 students who earned 1,179 credits. All had to have a C or higher in the courses to earn the credits. Prairie du Chien High School also awards an SWTC cord to students upon graduation who earn 12 or more SWTC credits while in high school. Last spring, 15 seniors graduated with 24 or more free college credits.”
Three of the Criminal Justice Studies classes are taught by Prairie du Chien High School instructors and two of them are taught by SWTC staff. If students take the five core classes their junior year, they can continue to earn credits in the EMT/Firefighting area during their senior year.
“This is our inaugural year of the actual academy model,” said Sjoberg. “We have taught all but one of the classes for about five years. The academy model pulls it together in a more formal manner specifically geared to Criminal Justice Studies. All of the classes in the model have good enrollment as they prepare students for a multitude of careers.”
Sjoberg said Prairie du Chien began offering Introduction to Criminal Justice about five years ago due to a grant offered by SWTC. City Administrator and former Police Chief Chad Abram was the instructor and continues to be today. Abram goes into the high school and teaches the class. A second class was added this year. It began in January and is called Community Policing in a Diverse Society. Twelve students are enrolled in the class Community Policing in a Diverse Society. Nineteen students completed Introduction to Criminal Justice in the first semester.
Sjoberg pointed out that this doesn’t mean all of these students are planning to major in Criminal Justice Studies, though. “The classes are popular with students who have many interests,” she said.
As with all transcripted credit courses, the students in the Criminal Justice Academy program gain a good head start before entering technical college or a university, and they save themselves a significant amount of money in tuition and fees. The Criminal Justice Academy also gives students a boost towards several different careers, should they so choose. The Wisconsin Technical College System Outcomes Report for 2019 graduates shows the top paying programs by median annual salaries are:
•Criminal Justice-Law Enforcement 720 Academy $56,078.
•Law Enforcement Recruit $53,431.
•Criminal Justice-Law Enforcement 2 $52,472.
•Criminal Justice-Law Enforcement $50,823.
