MTSU signed a first-of-its-kind dual enrollment partnership with Montverde Academy, a private boarding school in Florida known for its strong international enrollment, on Friday.
The agreement, signed by MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and Montverde Headmaster Kasey Kesselring, will allow students to gain university credit at MTSU. In addition, the academy’s counselors will collaborate with university undergraduate and international studies advisors on placing Monteverde students at Middle Tennessee.
“We are thrilled to be able to sign this agreement and partnership between our schools today,” Kesselring said.“We look forward to a long and productive relationship and we are super excited about the opportunity this is going to give our students.”
Students will likely complete their classes through an online program through the combined efforts of Montverde Academy and MTSU, according to a press release.
Kesslering received a masters degree from MTSU. He is also a former headmaster of Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee.
The academy educates more than 1,000 students from pre-K through 12th grade, 350 of whom are boarding students between grades 7 through 12. These students are from across the United States and 60 other countries around the world. Montverde Academy has also made student recruitment in China a priority, opening an educational center in Shanghai.
McPhee said the academy “produces some of the best and brightest young minds from across the nation and around the world.”
“I know that (Montverde) students and their parents will come to love and appreciate MTSU as they do this very fine academic institution,” McPhee said.
McPhee met with Montverde juniors and seniors before Friday’s signing ceremony. The president talked about programs and facilities at MTSU, including the recently opened $147-million science building.
Thirty Montverde students have been accepted for admission to the incoming fall class, including nine who were enrolled during Friday’s visit, according Deb Sells, Vice President for Student Affairs and Vice Provost for Enrollment Services.
Andrew Oppmann contributed to this report.
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