Nolan Woidyla ‘26 looked at the registration booklet for classes at BHS and saw nothing that aligned with his future plans in the medical field. At that moment, he decided to leave his friends and the atmosphere of BHS behind and go PSEO.
Students at BHS sign up halfway through the year for their next year classes. For some upperclassmen, it’s a struggle finding the classes that they are interested in doing while also earning college credits. Some students take an alternative route by doing Post-Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) which allows them to pursue college credit, take online classes, and seek out a more flexible schedule. Woidyla decided to do part-time online classes next year through Northwestern.
“The school doesn’t give a lot of opportunities for classes that align with what I want to be when I am older,” said Woidyla. “I want to be given the opportunity to get college credits that go with what I want to do. Doing post-secondary as a high school student will help me pay for college and make college [less] years. When I graduate high school, it will be a nice feeling knowing I might only have to finish three years of college instead of four and not pay as much as others not doing PSEO.”
Post-secondary students also miss out on a lot of different opportunities related to being a full-time student, which can make it a hard decision for some students who are worried about taking classes with less support from teachers and school staff. “It’s hard knowing that I will be missing out on the high school experience,” said Woidyla. “When I was picking out what PSEO I wanted to do I decided that if I do half time I can still get the highschool experience and play football here, but also do school that will be more beneficial for my future.”
On the other hand, some students think about going PSEO but then decide not to because they felt like they were missing out on the high school experience and the time it takes away from other experiences. Halle Willman ‘24 decided to stop doing PSEO and return to BHS.
“I did PSEO for the first part of my senior year,” said Willman. “I started PSEO the first week of my senior year and after doing it for a couple months I decided it wasn’t the best option for me to do anymore.”
Senior year is one of the last opportunities for seniors to see a lot of their friends and favorite teachers every day. Often students miss out on different sporting events, dances and school actvites. “I didn’t like the feeling of not being at school anymore,” said Willman. “I hated not being able to see my friends in school and have classes with them. I also didn’t like not seeing some of the teachers I have known forever. I think it would have been really hard not being able to see all these people my last year of high school before I graduate.”
Even though some students don’t want to miss out on things, Alex Budde ‘24 found a way to still get in the high school experience and still have connections with people from high school.
“I first found out about PSEO from my sister,” said Budde. “My reason for joining PSEO was to be able to have more freedom and be able to get college credits. I was worried that doing PSEO would make it hard for me to keep connections with people. I’m still taking some classes at BHS while doing PSEO which has made it so I can keep the connections. I think it’s nice to get an idea of how college will be and be able to find ways and times to study on my own and feel a lot less stressed.”
Buffalo high school loses around 90 students a year to PSEO according to statistics kept by the Student Services department. This is a big deal to the school because when students go PSEO the school loses the state funding. When they lose this many students they are losing around $16,000 per kid which results in decreased staffing.