At Battelle, we believe that "big" doesn’t always mean better! The concept that is now realized in the Metro Early College High School was born out of the desire of both the Ohio State University and Battelle to create a “small” STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) school with a “big footprint.” In co-founding this school, the desire was not just to offer an alternative high school for students in Columbus, Ohio, but rather to create a model that others might emulate, thus amplifying the STEM educational wave well beyond our city borders.
Opened in 2006, Metro Early College High School is just that. Initially funded by a $560,000 operating grant from Battelle and supported by a $1.2 million infrastructure gift from the Ohio State University, the school has been visited by more than 600 teams of people studying its design and educational philosophies. The school is operated by the Educational Council, a partnership of Franklin County’s 16 school districts.
Metro is a public high school, not a charter school. While at Metro, students stay enrolled in their home high schools and can continue to participate in extracurricular activities there. The school opened with nearly 100 students and will phase in enrollment through the fall of 2009 with up to 100 students in each class.
Click here to learn more about the Metro Early College High School.
Read The Metro Blog, written by Battelle’s own Diana Wolterman.