Jackson Free Press

Jackson Public Schools recently partnered with Tougaloo College to establish an Early College High School program. ECHS is a JPS high-school program that will operate on Tougaloo's campus in the Owens Health and Wellness Center. Students in the program will complete their state graduation requirements for high school while also working on college coursework.

After participating in ECHS, students who complete their graduation requirements during the program may earn either an associate's degree or up to two years of credits toward a bachelor's degree. The minimum expectation is that all of the program's graduates will meet college entrance requirements without the need for remediation.

JPS will enroll 42 ninth-grade students in the program this year, and will add new grades each year until the program has ninth- through 12th-grade students. The 2018 program will begin on Wednesday, Aug. 8.

In addition to the new JPS-Tougaloo program, Mississippi has ECHS programs at East Mississippi Community College in Mayhew, Hinds Community College in Vicksburg, Coahoma Community College in Clarksdale, Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Natchez and Delta State University in Greenville.

For more information on the ECHS program, as well as admission and application requirements, call 601-960-8700 or visit jackson.k12.ms.us.

MSU Celebrates YMCA Building Renovation

Mississippi State University held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, July 31, to celebrate the recently completed renovations of the university's YMCA Building.

The YMCA chapter was founded in 1882, back when the school was still the Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi. As the organization grew, it constructed and opened the 28,000-square-foot building in 1914 and opened it in 1915.

In 1985, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History designated the building as a Mississippi Landmark Building. The YMCA also once housed the MSU campus post office, which moved to the Roberts Building once the YMCA reconstruction began.

The $9.8-million renovation added faculty offices for MSU's Dean of Students and College of Arts and Sciences on the first floor, an office for vice president for student affairs on the second floor, and the vice president for finance and chief financial officer and the Office of General Counsel on the third floor.

USM Establishes Center for Optoelectronic Materials and Devices

The University of Southern Mississippi recently established a new Center for Optoelectronic Materials and Devices inside its School of Polymer Science and Engineering. On April 19, the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning approved USM's plans to create the center.

It will conduct research on optoelectronic technology, which uses electronic devices that interact with light, for biomedical and environmental use. The steps in technological advancement USM intends on taking will hopefully result in infrared detection devices, wearable health monitors, flexible solar cells, and machines to sense ocean contaminants from oil spills and agricultural run-off.

Sarah Morgan, associate director and professor at the School of Polymer Science and Engineering, will serve as the center's director. For more information, call 601-266-1000 or visit usm.edu/polymer.