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N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The University of Jamestown and Oakes High School are excited to announce a new partnership through which Oakes High School students will be able to take Introduction to the Humanities I & II through the University starting in the fall of 2015. The course will expose students to some of the most important philosophers and writers throughout history, including Plato, Sophocles, Bronte, Fitzgerald, and Nagel. The course will also have a heavy emphasis on leadership and civic engagement.

Joshua Johnson, Superintendent of Schools at Oakes, says, “Oakes Public Schools is very excited to partner with the University of Jamestown and offer a leadership-based dual credit course for senior students. It is becoming increasingly challenging in North Dakota rural K-12 schools to meet the upper level needs of advanced high school students and we are confident that the partnership with UJ will challenge our students to new levels. This pilot program at Oakes Public Schools will likely pave the way for other schools and students across rural North Dakota to achieve at upper levels.”

As part of the course, students will participate in a variety of activities, including service projects in Oakes, the University of Jamestown’s fall leadership workshop, and a near-peer mentoring program with juniors and seniors in UJ’s Character in Leadership program.

“I am thrilled to be working with Oakes High School and to be bringing university-level humanities, leadership development, and civic engagement into their school,” said Dr. Paul Olson, the academic dean at UJ. “To be able to provide a challenging dual-credit course for high achieving students is fantastic. I hope we learn from our experience with Oakes and are able to use it as a model for other school districts throughout the area,” says Paul Olson, Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Jamestown.

The University of Jamestown was established in 1883 and is ranked as a top tier regional school in US News and World Report and a top Midwestern school in The Princeton Review. The school features development of the whole person through its distinctive Journey to Success experience.