Dual credit programs help students save money, experience college and begin their careers faster
Imunique Triplett is pursuing her bachelor’sdegree in nursing at Marquette University.
Dual credit made Imunique Triplett a singular sensation.
In the fall of 2021, Triplett graduated from MATC’s Licensed Practical Nursing program—six months before earning her diploma from Milwaukee Public Schools’ Rufus King International High School. Despite being the youngest student in her nursing class, she was chosen by her classmates to speak at the pinning ceremony.
Back then, graduating with a college diploma before receiving her high school diploma made national news. Stories about her appeared in newspapers, magazines, and on radio and television shows across the country.
Today, Triplett attends Marquette University, where she expects to earn her bachelor's degree in registered nursing in May 2026. She plans to attain a master's degree in nursing and become a certified nurse midwife.
Triplett participated in M³ (pronounced M-cubed) College Connections—a dual enrollment program supported through a collaboration between MATC, MPS, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She took nursing classes at MATC while still in high school.
“I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Once I discovered what I wanted to do, the nursing program aligned right with it,” Triplett said in 2021.
“It gave me the practical experience, the networking experience, the learning experience. The faculty and everyone at MATC were super supportive and provided inspiration. It was worth every tear I shed and every night I stayed up late studying. It has been a very special experience.”
MATC’s dual credit programs provide unique educational opportunities for thousands of students across the college district each year, said Josephine Gómez, Ed.D., director of high school relations and transfers at MATC and dean of community education and strategic engagement.
Participation in MATC’s dual credit programs—which include students spending the entire school day in college or taking college-level courses at their high schools—is growing by 8% to 10% annually. Nearly 4,000 students are currently enrolled.
Of the 80 high schools in the MATC District, 59 had at least one student enrolled in a dual credit course during the 2023–24 academic year.
“As the cost of college rises, students, parents, and families are viewing these programs as a way of getting a great head start,” said Dr. Gómez. “The great thing is, with 180 programs, there is something at MATC for everyone.”“As the cost of college rises, students, parents and families are viewing these programs as a way of getting a great head start.”
An opportunity to excel
Instructors, students, and administrators consistently praise MATC’s dual credit programs.“Students like dual enrollment, and I think the parents like it even more,” said Thomas P. Geil, a retired MATC math instructor who teaches college-level courses at Wauwatosa East and West high schools.
“They recognize that this opportunity is a really good one.”
Geil has taught math at numerous high schools in the MATC District, including Franklin, Oak Creek, Port Washington, and South Milwaukee. Though retired from full-time teaching in May 2024 after 23 years, he continues to teach Calculus III and differential equations in Wauwatosa.
“The instructors are careful to tell students they are taking a college class, and students like that,” Geil said.
“Students who attend classes at MATC are getting college exposure. It’s a college experience—and they are college students.”
One of those students was Ayden Wucherer. Coming from a family of public servants—his father a firefighter, a relative a police officer, and another in the military—Wucherer wanted to make his impact early.
As a junior at Homestead High School in Mequon, he enrolled in MATC’s Emergency Medical Technician program and spent nearly his entire senior year taking classes at the Mequon Campus. He received his technical diploma on May 19, 2024—nearly three weeks before receiving his high school diploma.
“The campus is about five minutes away from my house, so it was very convenient,” he said.
“At first, I thought it would feel a little weird taking college courses, but I discovered that I really liked them.”
Wucherer became the first Homestead student to participate in MATC’s Dual Enrollment Academy. He hopes more students consider this opportunity.
“I would much rather do something that would help me in my career,” Wucherer said.
“I, one hundred percent, made the right choice. I felt I was studying things that would have a real effect on what I wanted to do. I felt that it all mattered.”
Up north at Ozaukee High School, Morgan Howard fell in love with shop classes—an interest inspired by her father and uncles who worked in trades.
“Shop classes were always my favorite,” she said.
“Eventually, I had taken every one the school offered.”
MATC gave her the chance to take it further.
During her senior year, Howard and two other Ozaukee seniors traveled to the Mequon Campus four days a week to learn welding. In May 2023, they earned technical diplomas in welding from MATC on the same day they graduated from high school.
“You can’t go wrong with welding,” Howard said.
“There’s a real variety in the type of welding you can do. Plus, you’re learning a skill you can get a job with.”
Andy Gremminger, a counselor at Ozaukee High School, said the school partners with various institutions for “start college now” programs—but MATC’s program stands out.
“For us, the Dual Enrollment Academy at the Mequon Campus takes that kind of program to the next level,” Gremminger said.
“It’s a hard thing to say no to, especially from a cost perspective. You walk out of high school with not only a high school diploma, but with a technical diploma as well.”