Local educators and students say that the quality of education at East Lansing High School has been impacted by the school’s proximity and relationship with MSU.
Paula Steele, principal of ELHS, said MSU’s offerings of dual enrollment, an advanced placement economics course, interaction of student teaching interns and field trips to campus locations are a few of the ways that the two schools interact.
“I think we have a really good relationship with MSU,” she said. “It is the connection of MSU being the center of our community, and the public schools working in tandem (with MSU) that has the support of the community.”
ELHS received a silver medal ranking by U.S. News & World Report in November. Silver medals were awarded to 405 schools with a “college readiness index” of 20 or higher, that aren’t ranked in the top 100.
Suzanne Wilson, chairperson of MSU’s Department of Teacher Education, said teachers at ELHS have advantages living in a college town.
“If you live in an environment which is rich in intellectual resources such as a university, teachers and administrators can draw on those resources,” she said.
About six or seven students from MSU are assigned to ELHS for their teaching internship during each academic year, Wilson said.
Chris Harris, an MSU physics junior and ELHS alumnus, said an MSU student helped out in his French class at the school every week.
“It helped out because she came in and talked about the kinds of things that they do in their classes,” he said.
James McDaniel, a senior at ELHS attending the University of Michigan this fall, said ELHS has helped academically prepare him for college.
MSU also impacts the student make up of ELHS, McDaniel said.
“It is a really diverse population,” he said.
“MSU really plays a role in that. I think you get more of a real world setting.”
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