Early College High School and Ivy Tech Community College Partner to Offer Monthly “Early College@Ivy Tech Speaker Series”

A new collaboration will offer the community interesting and informational topics of discussion during a monthly speaker series at Ivy Tech Community College Evansville Campus.  “Early College@Ivy Tech Speaker Series” will feature the talents and knowledge of Early College and Ivy Tech faculty and staff, as well as others in the community. The series, which is free and open to the public, kicks off on Tuesday, Jan. 22, at 5:15 p.m. with the topic, “Raising an Olympian.”

The presentation will take place in Vectren Auditorium, Room 147, at Ivy Tech Community College. The Evansville campus is located at 3501 N. First Avenue.

First speaker in the series will be Early College faculty member Mark King. King is the father of Olympic Swimmer and Gold Medalist Lilly King. In his presentation, “Raising an Olympian” he will share some of the ways he and his wife, Ginny, help their children reach their goals. “I will touch on specific decisions that we made that allowed Lilly, and my son, Alex, the freedom to chase their dreams,” King said. He also indicated there will be many stories about Lilly’s pursuit of Olympic Gold.

Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation’s Early College High School is located at Ivy Tech Community College, and its students attend Ivy Tech classes, along with regular high school coursework – many completing an Associate Degree while still in high school, or their General Education Core — 30 credits transferrable to any college in Indiana.

Wendy McNamara, director of Early College, said “Many of our faculty have vast knowledge in subject areas others would find interesting, so we partnered with Ivy Tech to showcase these talents and information; along with Ivy Tech’s expertise areas.”

Jonathan Weinzapfel agreed with McNamara. “There are a multitude of faculty and staff that not only are experts in the areas in which they teach; but also have personal interest areas that the public will find engaging. We are pleased to be able to offer this monthly series, which will also include some speakers from our community, as well.”