CSUB launching dual enrollment kinesiology program this fall

High school students can earn up to 10 units to apply toward bachelor’s degree

By California State University, Bakersfield

August 1^st, 2024

High school students interested in sports medicine can get a head start on earning a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology through a new dual enrollment program being offered by California State University, Bakersfield this fall.

Students enrolled in the sports medicine program offered by the Kern High School District (KHSD) will be able to earn up to 10 units of college credit that can be directly applied to any of CSUB’s three kinesiology bachelor’s degree concentrations.

“I’m really excited because it’s the first pathway that we have coming out of CSUB where it’s a sequence of courses that align right into the degree,” said Faculty Director of Academic Systems Kris Grappendorf. “We want to connect the high school students who have that early interest in kinesiology to our program here at CSUB and ease them into that transition.”

Five courses will be available to students as part of the dual enrollment pathway across the sports medicine program’s two concentrations: personal training and care and prevention. The courses will have the same curriculum and rigor as those offered at CSUB.

This fall, KHSD will offer morning, afternoon and evening sessions of the program. Morning sessions will focus on personal training while afternoon sessions will be centered on care and prevention. Evening sessions will be a mix of both areas of study.

The sessions — which are held at the district’s new Career Technical Education Center (CTEC) in southwest Bakersfield — will each accommodate up to 30 students, for a total of around 90 participants.

“We are thrilled to advance our partnership with CSUB through the expanded dual enrollment program at CTEC,” said the center's principal, Brian Miller. “We aim for this collaboration to connect CTEC students to the CSUB campus, offering them a pathway to a high-quality local postsecondary option while further igniting their career interests.”

Grappendorf has been developing the dual enrollment program for nearly two years, beginning when she was still chair of the Kinesiology Department. While CSUB has previously partnered with KHSD on a couple dual enrollment courses in the past, she wanted to create a more intentional pathway that would directly link to the university’s kinesiology program.

“If a student is applying to CTEC, we already know they’re interested, so we’re trying to expand on that and see if we can we get them in the major and understand what they’re options are,” she said.

'Real-world skills'

The university is hoping to grab students’ attention by being directly involved in the classes. There are plans to bring students to CSUB for a lecture and tour to help give them an overview of the campus experience.

CSUB’s kinesiology faculty will also be a frequent presence in the program. Two lecturers have been hired by KHSD to teach the evening sessions. Josh Gordon will teach in the fall while Craig Harnetiaux will teach next spring. They will be teaching the same courses that they teach at the university.

For Gordon, who has worked at CSUB for five years, this program will be his first time teaching high school students.

“I’m very excited for the opportunity. Teaching high school students will improve my teaching at the college and will be a great new learning experience for me,” he said.

Gordon believes the dual enrollment program will be a win-win for both students and the university.

“I think the high school students are going to get a lot out of it. We’re not only going to give them some exposure to what a college course might be like, but also teach them real-world skills,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to recruit some of them to continue their education at CSUB.”

In addition to Gordon and Harnetiaux, faculty in the Kinesiology Department will also be invited to be guest speakers and lecturers during the program, according to Grappendorf.

“We want to see if that makes a difference — are we able to use our faculty to connect with the students at the high-school level to help them transition to the university?” she said. “When they get here, they’re already going to know the faculty in the department, having taken classes with them.”

Grappendorf hopes the dual enrollment program will ultimately encourage more students to pursue a kinesiology degree at CSUB and will lead to increased graduation rates.

One of the long-term benefits of the program is that CSUB will be able to track how these students perform compared to those who don’t have that dual enrollment experience.

“We’re going to be able to gain a lot of valuable data and information from this program to see how influential it can be,” Grappendorf said. “We want to see how many of these students matriculate to university, how many units they come in with, how did it affect retention and their persistence to getting a degree. I’m really excited to see what the impact will be from this.”

CSUB already has one of the largest dual enrollment programs in the CSU system, in partnership with KHSD and the Delano Joint Union High School District. Courses are offered in subjects such as business, math, geology and French.