Palm Beach State College (PBSC), a 90-year-old Florida institution, used to be considered the county’s best-kept secret. But no more. The college has a lot going on, from cutting-edge degree programs, to the growth of dual enrollment, to big capital projects and major partnerships.
“We’re fueled by the opportunity to take students from where they are, to where they want to go, and partner with them every step of the way to see that they get there,” says David Rutherford, vice president of institutional advancement and CEO of the Foundation for Palm Beach State College. “It’s driven by passion, this insatiable appetite to serve students, particularly the students we serve, [often] the first generation to go to college.”
And he says “no one is more passionate about that” than PBSC President Ava Parker.
This article is an excerpt from the current issue of the Community College Journal, published by the American Association of Community Colleges.
Under Parker’s leadership, which began in 2015, the college has opened a fifth campus, boosted student success rates as well as enrollment growth, emerged as a top institution for preparing students for STEM careers, expanded its allied health and technology facilities, and become named as the future home of an indoor tech golf sports and entertainment venue, co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
Forging stronger ties
Parker, who is the immediate past board chair of the American Association of Community Colleges, believes community colleges have the responsibility to prepare students for the working world — or to transfer to a four-year institution — which has led to focusing more heavily on technology in recent years, with associate degree and certificate programs in artificial intelligence, as well as associate and bachelor’s degrees in cybersecurity. And Palm Beach State has programs in engineering technology and next-generation energy.
“I call it ‘raising the IT IQ’ of our students,” she says. “It’s a baseline that makes a difference, particularly in a community like mine, where we don’t have huge industry. But because banking and finance are growing so much in our community, having a technology-rich environment is what’s going to make a difference — whether you’re going into construction, or accounting or cybersecurity.”
Parker also has helped to forge — or deepen — partnerships with programmatic and capital project funders like Stephen M. Ross and Related Companies, the Quantum Foundation, the Lowe’s Foundation and the TMRW Sports Fund. The Quantum Foundation, for example, focuses on ending generational poverty and has a commitment in the health sciences area, making them a key partner on a number of fronts, Parker says.
“Those are things that are core to what we feel is our responsibility to the community,” she says.
Eric Kelly, CEO of Quantum Foundation, says the organization focuses on access to healthcare, with a lean toward workforce training and development.
“We understand that 80% of an individual’s well-being is due to social determinants of health. Education is one of those key features and factors,” he says.
Kelly adds that PBSC has a level of professional acumen that makes grantmaking “easy.”
The segment of community and population that PBSC targets is also of interest to Quantum.
“They tend to see the margins and provide opportunities to students who may find themselves on the margins of academic need,” he says.
Palm Beach State does not approach potential funders “palm up,” Rutherford says. “We need to be able to demonstrate the relevance of what we’re doing, in two ways. One, the impact on our mission, on this community. And, what impact could a potential partner have in helping us move the needle? Why do we need to do it now?”
Education partners
The college also has leaned into partnerships with educational institutions on both ends of students’ journeys, both four-year universities and K-12 districts.
“We’ve taken a look at the four-year universities that most of our students transfer to, and we’ve established a relationship with the faculty at those institutions,” Parker says. “I want them to be competitive with their colleagues who start as freshmen. The best way for me to make sure we’re preparing them correctly … is to meet with faculty, particularly in math and English.”
The partnerships with K-12 school districts similarly ensure that credentials match as closely as possible, “so they have stackable foundation classes when they transfer to us,” Parker adds. “We pay attention in high school, as well as what happens afterward.”
Diving into dual enrollment
The number of students participating in dual enrollment at PBSC has increased by 28% in the last two years and by 11% over five years, to 4,164 as of late March, after a pandemic-induced dip.
All 25 of the “traditional” high schools in Palm Beach County have students in dual enrollment or early admission, as do seven of the 19 charter schools in the county operated by third parties. Nearly one-fifth of high-school seniors in each of the last three school years (between 17.6% and 19.3%) ended up enrolling full-time at Palm Beach State; while a total of 142 in the past two school years had earned an associate degree by the time they finished high school.
Overall, Palm Beach State’s efforts touch about 54 high schools and one middle school, both public and private, as well as home-schooled students, says Karline Prophete, dean of student success and director of the Dr. Barbara Carey-Shuler Equity Institute.
“Everyone in Palm Beach County has an opportunity to use this accelerated mechanism to change their family’s lives,” she says, adding that the goal is to reach 5,000 dual-enrollment students by 2026.
As someone who wrote her dissertation on dual enrollment, Prophete went to Parker and said, “‘I have our secret sauce,’” she recalls. “If you can do well in an honors class in high school, you can absolutely come into dual enrollment and be successful. … She charged me to expand into the middle schools.”
To recruit families, Prophete does presentations at school districts and in community settings like Boys and Girls Clubs.
“The best way to increase economic mobility is to make sure that cost is not a factor,” she says. “I meet with a family and say, ‘You can get 60 credits out of the way, and do it in high school, and no cost.’ I’m supporting 10- to 12-year-olds to go to college.”
This work underscores Parker’s commitment to serving the families of the county, Prophete says.
“The college doesn’t get a 1-to-1 return, but the long-term impact on the county and families is the focus,” she says. “I always give props to her. She always says, ‘Go do what’s good for kids, and we’ll figure it out.’”
