Former Senator Jean Fuller and Bakersfield College partnered up with McFarland High School with the Early College Program to ensure incoming freshmen with not only a high school diploma but with also an AA or Work Skills certificate.  On Feb. 13, BC invited the McFarland community to join them with the debut of the Early College Program at McFarland High School (MHS).

Representatives from Kern County and California made an appearance to show support for the initiative. McFarland Unified School District (MUSD) President Jim Beltran and his fellow trustees took some time to thank Senator Fuller and BC for their encouragement to push early college on their students.

“Can you feel the magic in this room today?” Fuller asked.

With eager ears and eyes, Fuller was ecstatic to present the community of McFarland the program that has the potential to change their kid’s future. A program that is cost efficient providing four years of tuition-free and textbooks are provided for free as well.

“Your student is going to have an advantage those other small communities and almost any city in the nation is not, but because they are amongst the first, they are the pioneers,” Fuller said.

When Fuller has introduced this program, she was surprised by how no other schools had such a program like BC’s. She related with families in McFarland because she was a native to Kern County and did not have much growing up. She worked hard for her own money and her education.

The MUSD is thrilled to have students make a choice on which pathway is best for them. Pathways like agriculture business, education, and computer science.

“The Early College Program embodies our values as a community and McFarland knows better than anyone that you don’t have to be big to do big things for kids,” Superintendent of McFarland Unified School District Aaron Resendez said.

Vice President of the Kern Community College District (KCCD) Romeo Agbalog explained how the team wanted to give the community a resource on how they can save money and time. They based the program with the hopes to help families save money efficiently.

“This is a community that knows how to get things done,” Agbalog said.

With a heavy heart, Agbalog gave a comparison on how the program is going to provide success just how famously McFarland’s reputation with cross-country gave victory to the team. He is positive that McFarland will have a great outcome with the program and show other schools that it will become a success.