Building a Foundation for University Transfer: Washington Montessori’s Ben Brewer

Dual-enrolled student Ben Brewer splits his time between Washington Montessori Public Charter School and Beaufort County Community College. With interests in chemistry and math, he is still deciding on a major for when he transfers to a university. The opportunity to attend community college while in high school has given him a solid foundation–one of the best in the state–for that transition.

Brewer is part of a small graduating class of just 26 students at Washington Montessori. This intimate setting allows him to know his classmates well, but the community college exposes him to a broader range of instructors with different teaching styles, compared to the seven instructors at his high school.

“That’s one of the things I like about here,” he says. “I can find new people to learn from, people that can teach differently along those lines. Everybody has their own approach to teaching.”

This variety of instructional approaches balances the long-term connections Brewer has built with his high school teachers.

“I feel like you make a connection with someone when you see them for four years, but I do think it helps to have different teachers and just see their different views on things,” he says.

At Beaufort, Brewer was surprised at the level of personal attention from his instructors. He initially thought he would get lost in the crowd, but he has received similar interaction to what he experienced at his high school. The college also gives him access to new classes that were not available in high school.

“I was friends with a few people in the grade above me, and they showed us, like, I can have a psychology class. That’s really cool. I could have a music class. Just seeing the things that I could have and learn over here that I couldn’t at my high school made me want to come over here.”

Washington Montessori encourages students like Brewer to explore community college classes to prepare them for university. “They want people to come here,” Brewer says. “They try to get us to take our last science and last math here.”

Excelling in math, Brewer is considering a chemistry major but is still exploring career paths that align with his strengths.

“I want to make sure I have these doors open for the future, so that way I could see who accepts me and then pick.” He is looking at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina-Wilmington.

Dual enrollment has given him a taste of university life, with a larger campus and increased independence that prepares him for future success.

“At my high school, there’s not really sectioned-off classrooms, like all the doors are basically open. It’s so different from this, and it’s so different from a traditional high school. Going to something like Beaufort is really good to get that college experience.”

Brewer enjoys the independence to make decisions about studying in the library or helping with tasks like clothing donations or giving tours to prospective students as part of his role as an ambassador for the college.

These experiences at Beaufort serve as an important step toward university. According to the North Carolina Community College System, Beaufort transfer students in the 2021-2022 academic year fared better than students from all but six other community colleges in the state. This ranking is based on whether students with 30+ credit hours were still enrolled or had graduated from a university a year after transferring.

Dual-enrollment students gain a larger sense of responsibility and exposure to varied teaching methods while still enjoying smaller, more personal classes. This helps students like Brewer adapt more smoothly to the changes that await them at a larger university like UNC-Chapel Hill.