Harrison Berr, a freshman currently working to his high school diploma is also hoping to graduate with an associate’s degree by commencement four years from now.

Harrison wanted to join the DECO program because of the efficiency of being able to obtain an associate’s degree while also working on high school coursework.

Harrison states, “It seemed like a really good opportunity to not have to pay for two years of college and to be able to get it done earlier than usual.”

The Danbury Early College Program is in its first year at DHS with enrollment from students of the Freshman Class of 2019.

The 100 applicants who were accepted are adjusting to the school as well as beginning the process to obtaining an associate’s degree in Information Technology from Naugatuck Valley Community College.

This program was initiated by Freshman Academy Principal Dan Donovan and previous dean of student support, Matt Laskowski, last year. They worked with Naugatuck Valley Community College and local companies, NewOak and Pitney Bowes, to get this program implemented.

With Laskowski leaving for a position in Stamford, Sarah Roy was hired as the new director of the DECO program.

Roy is optimistic about the success of the DECO program.

The DECO program had its launch this year with a ribbon cutting at the beginning of the school year with U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, representatives from NewOak, Pitney Bowes and NVCC, and Danbury officials in attendance.

“It was a good way to get our name out into the public,” Roy said of the event. “We are looking for state funding and some legislation to go through so we can continue to offer the program [to students] for free.”

Roy said they haven’t faced immense struggles or challenges yet.

“We are still ironing out the curriculum, we are still ironing out the courses we will be offering and how to align them with what is happening at Naugatuck Valley Community College so that the credits are transferable,” Roy said.

There are four core teachers on the team and the workplace learning class; two teachers are from the Business Department and two from the actual Freshman Academy.

The workplace learning class is an enjoyable experience for students including Charis Nyarko.

Nyarko states, “We have started off by finding our personalities and how to write business biographies.”

Diane Mohs, business teacher, was chosen to be one of these teachers in the workplace learning class.

It has been somewhat of a different experience for her as it is her first year teaching an entire class of freshmen.

Mohs says, “The rest of my day is with AP and Honors students. Freshman like to talk.”

Roy does not believe the work will overwhelm students in the first  three years.

“I don’t think it is any different from the kids who are balancing AP courses and being on a varsity team,” Roy said.  “I think it will be a similar kind of struggle. I think they will be able to juggle it the same.”

Mohs adds,  “I think they are adjusting like regular freshman. They’re realizing all this workload is getting tougher and their grades are starting to drop so hopefully we can catch that.”

Berr said that the workload is not very different from the typical freshman in a team.

“We only have one extra class that deals with our personalities and business, which is workplace learning,” he said.

ECO student, Nicholas Pietrafesa states,  “The workplace learning class itself has not been very difficult. There are projects here and there. We don’t have a lot of homework compared to our other core classes.”

Roy hopes to see success throughout the process and a positive end goal for the students going through it.

“We do come together to do events. The workplace learning class helps students learn how to conduct themselves in business, which I think a lot of people take for granted.”