College Starts Now: The Dual Enrollment Advantage

Today’s episode dives into a powerful opportunity that’s helping high school students get a head start on college: dual enrollment. It’s more than just earning college credits early. It’s about gaining real experience, building confidence and discovering passions before even stepping onto campus full-time. We’re joined by faculty who teach in dual enrollment programs and students who’ve taken advantage of them. You’ll hear about their backgrounds, their majors, and how PennWest’s supportive programs – from education and business to STEM and the arts – are helping them thrive. Today’s guests:Dr. Brandon Packard is an Associate Professor and Assistant Department Chair at PennWest University’s Department of Computing and Engineering Technology. He teaches the dual enrollment course “AI for Everyone.” Dr. Karen Wise Lindeman is a Professor in the Education Department at PennWest, specializing in early childhood and elementary education. She created Edinboro’s undergraduate Deaf Education program and teaches the Dual Enrollment course ASL & Deaf Culture. Camryn Humes, a first-year Speech-Language Pathology major from Erie, Pennsylvania, began college early through dual enrollment. Her passion for neonatal speech-language pathology fuels her academic journey. Addison Gregory, from California, Pennsylvania, graduated high school in May 2025 with 38 college credits and entered Pennsylvania Western University as a first-semester sophomore. She’s majoring in biology with a concentration in pre-dental studies and a minor in honors.