Jo Lacher
By Brian Jackson

It is spring quarter and students and teachers are frantically preparing for end of the school year, and Running Start is no exception.

For Jo Lacher, the Running Start coordinator at Everett Community College, spring is the busiest time of year. Right now, applications for the Running Start program are due and high school students from all over the area are jumping at the chance to get a head start in their college career.

Lacher’s desk is covered with student applications. She is the lone EvCC staff member for the Running Start program. She handles all the paperwork and at this time of year, Lacher works a lot of overtime. She has held this position for three and a half years.

“I’ve almost got it down to a science,” she said. Along with the tedious paperwork, Lacher has to prepare for the student orientation that takes place May 23.

Lacher’s favorite thing about this job is that she gets to work primarily with high school students. Lacher received her her bachelor’s in theater with a minor in Journalism at the University of Nevada and a master’s degree in directing at Western Washington University. Her love for high school students made her decide to switch gears and get a job at EVCC working with the Running Start students.

The program is a statewide program funded by the government. It is open to all junior and senior students attending high school. The state pays up to 15 credits a quarter for students and EvCC pays three more credits if students wish to get 18 credits in a quarter. The Running Start students must pay for books, lab fees, and parking from their own pocket.

Running Start students can earn an equivalent year worth of high school credits, by taking a one quarter, five-credit class at EvCC. The college offers a more colorful list of classes than high schools do, which attracts high school students.

If the Running Start students play their cards right, they can earn their Associate’s Degree the same time they graduate from high school. This year, there will be a record number of 49 Running Start students graduating with an Associate’s Degree.

When Lacher isn’t reading over applications or talking to high school students, she loves to read, sing, do some circuit weight training, and she loves the theater in which she has been involved for 10 years.

^ Back to Top

Copyright The Clipper 2005 | Web Design by Nick Vogt |