Atlantic Cape President Responds to April 6 Article, Column

In the April 6 edition of The Cape May County Herald, the first in a series of articles was published examining Atlantic Cape Community College’s role in Cape May County.
The main goal of this commentary is to provide the readers of The Herald with a more comprehensive and accurate description of Atlantic Cape’s efforts to deliver our mission at the Cape May County Campus over the past 10 years. For the record, that published mission is as follows: Atlantic Cape Community College creates opportunity by providing superior educational programs.
With respect to the April 6 column, “Has ‘Our’ College Campus Served Us Well?” by Al Campbell that accompanied the article, it is our view that clarification is needed on some key points. It was stated that Atlantic Cape “has yet to realize the dream of completing a two-year course entirely at the Court House campus.” Actually, since the opening of the Cape May County Campus we have offered at least two of our most popular degree programs at that site: General Studies and Liberal Arts. Also, over the past four months, we have completed the planning needed to offer seven additional degree programs at the Cape May County Campus for the fall 2016 semester: Criminal Justice, Business Administration, Psychology, Education, Communication, Human Services and Health Services. These courses will be taught virtually and in-person to students at both Cape May County and Mays Landing campuses.
Also, a lack of communication between Atlantic Cape and Cape May County high schools was implied. We take great pride in our working relationship with Cape May County high schools, including meeting monthly with all superintendents. We approach our K-12 initiatives using an array of strategies under two broad categories: “speed-up” and “catch-up.” For speed-up (students looking to take college courses while still in high school), we have 68 dual-credit and articulation agreements with four of the six high schools in Cape May County. For catch-up (working with the high schools to enhance the preparation of their students to be college-ready upon admission to Atlantic Cape) we have several initiatives currently in place. A pilot program was launched with Middle Township High School to administer the college’s ACCUPLACER test to juniors and build a curriculum into their senior year incorporating the developmental English or math courses needed to make each student a college-ready senior. A Department of Education grant of $250,000 allows Atlantic Cape and Wildwood High School to implement career and college readiness programs. The college will host a five-day career boot camp at the Cape May County Campus in June for up to 30 seniors as well as four Saturday career workshops from now through early June. And, with the recently signed Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) articulation agreement between Atlantic Cape and Cape May County Technical School, students will receive 25 credits from Atlantic Cape for their career technical education in both the high school and post-secondary programs.
And finally, it should be noted that Atlantic Cape has developed strong relationships with the business community, through our active membership in the County Chamber of Commerce, and with numerous community-based organizations as well. The college will provide The Herald with information related to our efforts in these areas that we understand will be covered in subsequent articles in this series. 
Mora is President of Atlantic Cape Community College.