Families with teenage children should mark their calendars for March 18^th if they’d like their teens to learn more about attending one of EASTCONN’s two, free, magnet high school programs in northeastern Connecticut.

One EASTCONN high school allows students to focus on the arts, while the other focuses on reinvigorating students’ interest in learning by immersing them in a supportive high school program and allowing them to take college classes and earn free college credit.  

An open house highlighting both public high school programs will be held on Thursday, March 18, 2010, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at EASTCONN’s Capitol Theater, 896 Main St., downtown Willimantic.

The March 18 open house will offer information sessions and student presentations from both schools. Refreshments and tours of the Capitol Theater will be available.

The first school, Arts at the Capitol Theater (ACT), is an arts magnet high school located in the beautifully renovated Capitol Theater. ACT offers a rigorous, traditional high school curriculum, in addition to classes in creative writing, acting, musical theater, dance, stage-and-lighting design, costume design, audio/video production, and more. ACT allows students to choose from on-stage or behind-the-scenes arts classes that emphasize their talents or their interest in the arts. The school will enroll about 120 students in grades 9-12 next fall.

The second school highlighted during the open house is Quinebaug Valley Middle College High School (QVMCHS), a new magnet-school option for capable, non-traditional students. QVMCHS, which is located at Quinebaug Valley Community College, 742 Upper Maple St., in Danielson, enables students to earn their high school degree in small, supportive, academically rigorous classes, while also encouraging them to attend college classes and earn free college credit. Students may attend a broad variety of QVCC classes during their regular high school day. Next fall, QVMCHS will enroll about 105 students in grades 10-12. QVMCHS is recruiting 9th-graders who will enter 10^th grade next fall.

To learn more about the open house, call 860-465-5636. Parents may call QVMCHS Principal Gino LoRicco at 860-412-7400, to ask questions or arrange for a tour of the Danielson facility. Visit the QVMCHS Web site at www.eastconn.org/QVMCHS. Parents are also invited to arrange a tour or get information about ACT by calling ACT Principal Tracy Goodell-Pelletier at 860-465-5636. Visit www.eastconn.org/ACT.