Revere High School will offer two semesters of French and two semesters of Spanish College Credit Plus courses starting next year.

Currently, Revere offers foreign language courses for Latin, Spanish and French. There are four basic courses for each language, each ascending in difficulty. There is also an AP (advanced placement) French Class, an AP Latin Class and an AP Spanish Class. 

Revere High School Spanish teacher Katie Ryan will be teaching the new CCP, or College Credit Plus, Spanish classes, which are similar in difficulty to the current Spanish IV class.

“The CCP Spanish courses that will be offered next year are Spanish 201 and Spanish 202, each course is a semester-long and is a three-credit course. [This means] six credits total for students who complete CCP Spanish 201 and 202. CCP is considered an intermediate college level course,” Ryan said.

Although the classes are offered on campus at Revere High School, they are real University of Akron classes and students will need to apply for admission to the University of Akron, the school Revere partners with to offer these courses. 

Revere Guidance Counselor Nicholas DePompei explained the prerequisites for attending these classes. 

“[The] prerequisites are to be enrolled into the CCP Program.  This is done through the University of Akron. Students should see their counselor if they have questions on how to enroll,”  DePompei said.

Once a student applies and gets accepted to the University of Akron, they are eligible to take any other CCP class that the college offers, DePompei explained who these classes are ideal for. 

“Apart from getting in, the typical placement of the course is after Spanish or French III.  It is a perfect course for a student that wants to continue with their language after the III class but may not want the rigor of a IV year language.  It has a great benefit of being a 5.0 A and awards college credit,” DePompei said.

Ryan, who graduated from the University of Akron in 2009, is excited to be a professor at the school she graduated from. She explained the process of getting certified to teach at the University of Akron.

“To be approved to teach CCP Spanish, you must have a master’s degree in the content area. 

I also had to be interviewed by the head of the World Languages department at the University of Akron, all in Spanish. I am so excited to be teaching this new level of Spanish at Revere, and I feel confident that our language students are ready and up to the challenge,” Ryan said. 

Ryan elaborated on beneficial experience with the Akron University Spanish Program.

“I had a great experience with the University of Akron’s Spanish program as a student and am now honored to be a part of UA’s language program at the capacity of adjunct professor,” Ryan said.

Diane Gerspacher, who will be teaching the CCP French classes next year, explained her plans for next year.

“Along with my other French classes, I’ll be starting CCP French.  It’s intermediate French 201 and 202, and [is] geared towards students that have completed French I through III. I may try to teach Beginning French 101-102 [another CCP class] in the future. . . I’m excited to be teaching this new class.  I think it’s a great benefit to high school students,” Gerspacher said. 

Any student interested in enrolling in the CCP program should meet with their guidance counselor and talk to their current teacher of the subject they are interested in. 

“All CCP classes are always available through Akron but as far as on site, here at Revere we continue to look for classes that can be taught here and are a good fit for our students,”  DePompei said.