Valley Students Work Towards College Degree While In High School

Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, September 19, 2024…

• More students in the San Joaquin Valley are graduating high school not just with a diploma, but also with an associate’s degree. Taking college classes while still in high school can help them finish college and accelerate their careers.
• Women and people of color are still among the lowest-paid workers in California. That’s according to a new report released on International Equal Pay Day. 
• Five UC campuses are hoping to bolster their police forces with the purchase of more military and surveillance equipment. That includes drones, pepper powder and less-lethal firearms, also known as “anti-riot guns.”

A College Degree While Still In High School? More Valley Students Are Doing It

Katie Escobar and her sister, brother, parents, boyfriend and four dogs squeezed around a dark wooden dining room table on a recent Sunday night. Conversation flowed with weekly updates, favorite TV shows and an almost constant banter between the family members. The Escobars certainly don’t agree on everything, but they all value the same thing: education.

Between the seven members of the family, they’ve obtained 10 college degrees. Katie, 23, is currently in a master’s degree program studying education, but she earned her first degree much earlier. The same year she graduated from El Capitan High School, she also obtained an associate of arts degree from Merced College in social and behavioral science. An associate of arts degree is made up of 60 college credits, usually the equivalent of two years in full-time college.

More and more K-12 students in the San Joaquin Valley are either taking college courses or earning an associate of arts, otherwise known as an “AA” degree. Research shows such academic strides in high school can help students like Katie finish college and accelerate their careers.

New Report Highlights Gender Pay Gap In CA

A report from the California Civil Rights Department shows that women and communities of color remain among the state’s lowest paid workers.

The Department’s analysis of 2022 pay data from large employers found that only about a third of women are in the top pay bracket, and only around 1 in 20 Latinos. This comes even though California has some of the nation’s strongest equal pay laws and one of the lowest gender pay gaps in the country.

Five University Of California Campuses Request Additional Military Equipment For Police

Five University of California campuses are requesting additional military equipment for their police departments — including drones and hazardous device robots — a move that comes just months after pro-Palestinian protests and encampments racked the university system.

Under state law, UC’s governing body must approve requests for such equipment each year. The demonstrations during the spring also prompted many campuses to revise their time, place and manner policies that govern student protests — a move that many students and faculty have criticized as overly restrictive of free speech.

“We know that what’s probably going to change is how these policies are enforced,” UC Student Association President Aditi Hariharan said. “We’re very worried to see the weapons request being such large numbers of weapons, especially because the thing that’s seeming to change this academic year is much stronger and more stringent enforcement of these time, place and manner policies and free speech restrictions.”