MARIETTA, OHIO—Bailey Putnam’s love of cars has been with him since childhood. Days spent pushing toy cars and trucks around the living room floor have turned into hours spent learning the inner workings of the real deal.
Washington State College of Ohio’s newest Student of the Month, Putnam is a WSCO College Credit Plus (CCP) student who loves tinkering on vehicles. “I’ve done everything from bodywork to working on motors, and suspension work, but I really like messing with wires and doing audio stuff,” he admits.
CCP is an early college option funded by the state of Ohio that allows 7th through 12th-grade students the opportunity to earn college credits at no cost to them.
The Eastern High School senior has a 3.74 GPA and is enrolled in the Electrical Engineering Technology program majoring in Instrumentation, Control and Electrical. Thanks to the CCP program, he can be on campus just a few days a week and take his college classes along with classes he needs to finish high school, which was one of the reasons he was drawn to the early college option.
“The best part of being a high school student on a college campus is that I don’t have to attend school five days a week.” Putnam said spending less time in the classroom has afforded him the opportunity to have a part-time job where he’s been able to apply his classroom knowledge. In fact, Electrical Engineering Professor Jim York was able to arrange an internship with his current employer starting next fall.
“Bailey is a great student,” said York. “He’s quiet, but that may be related to the fact that he’s a high school student in a class that’s diverse in age, but he’s diligent in his work and always asks good questions.”
Putnam will graduate next spring with a driving desire to launch directly into a career where he can put his degree to use.
