On Thursday, May 9, Rowan College at Gloucester County faculty and staff will welcome high school students, along with their family and friends, to the College’s annual High School Collegiate Scholars ceremony.
The ceremony, which will acknowledge the accomplishments of 442 scholars from 23 different high schools in seven counties, highlights the growing number of dedicated young men and women who have demonstrated academic excellence as students at RCGC while concurrently enrolled in high school. Special recognition will be given to 26 students who will be walking in two graduation ceremonies this semester – once for their high school diploma and again for their RCGC associate degree. To be named a 2019 RCGC high school collegiate scholar, students are required to meet specific criteria — be enrolled at RCGC while in high school, earn 12 or more credits and maintain a grade point average of 2.0 or higher.
This year’s guest speaker Anastasios “Tasos” Kalfas, RCGC class of 2017, will graduate in May with a bachelor of arts in political science from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. While attending Kingsway Regional High School, Kalfas participated in a variety of dual enrollment programs, such as dual credit, advanced placement and the High School Option Program, to accelerate his ability to earn college credit. In 2017, he graduated from RCGC with an AA degree in Arts & Science, History Option, weeks before graduating from Kingsway Regional High School. Kalfas transferred to George Washington University as a junior and is now a student cooperative with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, where he works to reduce waste and identify innovations for the U.S. Postal Service. He co-founded and serves on the agency’s Student Cooperative Council, which provides professional development opportunities for students at the agency. Before joining the OIG, Kalfas worked with the Smithsonian National Postal Museum to develop an exhibit commemorating the 100 anniversary of airmail displayed in Columbus, Ohio at the 2018 American Philatelic Society stamp show. He was also the host of the “Out for Delivery” podcast for WRGW News, exploring developments in the delivery, supply chain and postal sectors.
With the rising cost of higher education an issue across the nation, RCGC’s High School Option Program offers ambitious young men and women a less traditional and much more affordable approach to higher education. Through HSOP, students from public, private and home schools across South Jersey, age 15 and older, can take general education courses at a 65-percent discount to earn college credits towards an associate degree or easily transfer credits to other institutions of higher education.
The High School Collegiate Scholar Ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. in RCGC’s Physical Education Center.
For more information, call (856) 464-6295. For additional information about the High School Option Program, visit RCGC.edu/DesignYourFuture.
