District Profile: Forsyth for the Future

Before starting her senior year as a Forsyth Panther, 17-year-old Lilia Roberts spent her summer bouncing between sports camps, traveling for Future Farmers of America and earning her Health credit online with Launch. “I took Launch in the summer so I would have time to do my A+ tutoring this fall,” says Lilia, or ‘Lili,’ as she prefers to be called. “Another student told me about Launch a couple of years ago—she recommended taking Launch in the summer so I’d have more time to take dual credit classes during the school year. I took Personal Finance last fall.”

Rewind to Spring 2018, and this was one of the main reasons Dr. Jeff Mingus made the decision for the Forsyth School District to partner with Launch. “The biggest draw for us was the ability to expand the opportunities we offer our students,” Dr. Mingus says.

Expanding Opportunities

As Dr. Mingus discusses expanding student opportunity, he’s talking about more than simply offering a few additional courses. “Sure, we have some students who take classes that we don’t offer here, and that’s great,” Dr. Mingus says. “But it really allows us to offer even more than that. We actually advertise Launch’s Personal Finance and Health classes to our students every summer so that they can earn those required credits online and have more room in their schedules to earn dual credit in the fall.”

Now in its sixth year as a Launch partner, the Forsyth School District has seen a significant increase in the number of students who take advantage of both Launch and dual credit courses. “We’ve had students recently who have entered college with a semester or two of courses under their belts,” Dr. Mingus says. “Not only does that give them a significant cost savings, but it also allows them to have a more manageable course load throughout their college career.”

The Student Experience

Kaden Mingus, currently a 16-year-old junior, took Launch’s Health class the summer before he started 11th grade. “I work at a golf course in Branson,” says Kaden, who also plays tennis. “I liked that I could see all of my upcoming assignments, because that gave me the ability to plan and work ahead. This allowed me to make time for my job, too.”

Kaden isn’t sure where he’s heading to college yet—Vanderbilt is currently at the top of his list—but he does plan to have a few dual credit courses on his transcript when he arrives. To help with this, he’s taking Personal Finance with Launch next summer. “It’s very flexible, which was a huge benefit,” Kaden says.

Lili agrees, saying that the flexibility of Launch helped her manage her jam-packed summer of school activities. “The teachers have been super understanding,” says Lili, who worked with her teacher to reschedule her final at the end of the summer term. “That’s helpful, especially for kids who play sports, because we’re really busy in the summer.”

Preparing Students to Learn Online

While many Forsyth students take Launch classes online during the summer months, this experience is often their first time learning with Launch—and sometimes it’s even their first time learning online—so it takes a bit of planning. “I host an orientation for all of our students who are planning to take a Launch course at the end of every semester,” says Forsyth Instructional Technology Coach Julie Guy. “I walk them through how to log in to their classes, and I show them everything from how to message their teacher to how to navigate Canvas.” This saves on questions, and oftentimes frustrations, when it’s actually time to log on.

“If we ever do have issues, though, the Launch support team is very helpful,” Julie says. “I work with a lot of software companies, and Launch’s customer service is by far the best. Overall, this partnership has been very beneficial to our district.”