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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington, IA 52353
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Iowa Valley senior finds college courses within her reach
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Iowa Valley senior Shayla Helgeson says she was afraid of college courses before enrolling at Kirkwood. Helgeson is featured in the Spring 2026 Kirkwood Iowa County Newsletter.
Helgeson says in the publication that she started taking dual credit classes as a junior. She’s taken four courses and participated in a summer internship through the community college.
“My favorite courses are the trio of Composition 1 and 2 as well as Fundamentals of Oral Communications,” Helgeson says in the newsletter.
“As a sophomore and freshman, the thought of college and college level courses scared me, but when I started taking them my junior year, I learned a lot,” Helgeson says. Kirkwood classes showed her that she’s smarter than she thought and that college-level courses are not beyond her reach.
“College credit courses help give students a sense of what their future classes could entail while they are still in high school. These courses also could help a student decide what they want to do after high school,” Helgeson says.
While in high school, Helgeson has participated in softball, track, FFA and speech. She plans to attend Iowa State University and major in animal science.
