Posts Tagged: community college
New publication helps youth evaluate post-high school ‘pathways’
Free downloadable curriculum recognizes diverse family circumstances
Not all young people are on an expressway to a four-year college, and a new publication from University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources acknowledges their many circumstances and possibilities. The “Pathways to Your Future” curriculum invites high school-aged youth – and their families – to map their unique situations and passions before embarking on their own road.
Whereas similar guides might convey advice on a one-way street, this free download outlines a “hands-on” experience – in school settings or out-of-school programs – to help young people steer toward their best post-high-school education, training and career options.
“We wanted to make a youth-centered publication,” said co-author Claudia Diaz Carrasco, UC Cooperative Extension 4-H youth development advisor in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. “A lot of the content out there is based on delivering content to kids – just like information on college and careers; with ‘Pathways to Your Future', it's actually a skill-building curriculum so that youth are doing research and having critical discussions and making comparisons.”
In a pilot program that engaged 228 high schoolers across California (primarily 9th graders recruited from local 4-H programs), many participants said they appreciated that the curriculum presented a variety of pathways, including vocational education, non-degree certificate programs, community college, on-the-job training or entering the workforce – as well as four-year institutions of higher education.
“They have been liking that it doesn't start with ‘pick a college and get there,'” Diaz Carrasco said. “But really it's a self-reflection approach, where they start going back to what they're passionate about and what they think they're good at – and how much money they want to make in the future – and really just having that opportunity to know themselves before jumping into college or a career.”
To help them attain that clear-eyed perspective, the modules in the curriculum also debunk myths about the college experience and incorporate budgeting activities.
“This program gives youth the opportunity to constantly reflect on their learning as they get more data,” said another publication co-author, Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty, UC ANR's statewide 4-H director. “In the beginning, youth may have a very rigid or glamorized view of their future; the ‘Pathways' program grounds things and brings reality into the picture.”
Parents of the pilot-program participants – who predominantly identify as Latino – were also thankful for opportunities to engage in “real talk” with other parents about the wide array of options. Acknowledging the diversity of families across California, “Pathways to Your Future” also includes several sections in Spanish to make essential information more accessible.
“The parents need as much – or more – education on the processes, opportunities and expectations to support post-high school life,” Schmitt-McQuitty explained.
In addition to integrating families into discussions about their future, the curriculum also provides spaces for the high schoolers to participate in panel discussions with their slightly older peers, who recently went through their own decision-making journeys.
“The youth really appreciate seeing someone like themselves talking about what they went through, how they overcame obstacles,” said Diaz Carrasco. “They feel really inspired that there is a pathway for themselves.”
For assistance and support in bringing the “Pathways” curriculum to your community, contact your county's Cooperative Extension office, reach out to the local 4-H program, or email Claudia Diaz Carrasco at cpdiaz@ucanr.edu.
The other authors of the publication are Shannon Horrillo (College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources, University of Nevada, Reno Extension), Darlene McIntyre and Nathaniel Caeton (UC ANR), and Martin Smith (University of California, Davis).
/h2>What's the Difference - Dirt, Soil, Earth?
Soil and agriculture courses are being taught again at Ventura College. This was a commitment of outgoing President, Greg Gillespie. There are only a handful California community (junior) colleges that still teach soils. Luckily Santa Barbara City, Allan Hancock, Pierce, Mira Costa and a few other community colleges in the Central Valley have at least introductory courses in soils. Many of the leading growers in Ventura County got their start in college taking soils courses at Ventura College, then went on to four-year colleges to round out their educations. The community college classes have always been a taste, a dusting of understanding of soils and if someone wanted to dig deeper, they would go on to somewhere like Davis, Fresno, Riverside, Pomona or San Luis. The community colleges are part of the continuum, start there and then go anywhere.
Only a handful of community colleges continue to teach soils.
Dr. Jennifer Charles-Tollerup, the incoming Agriculture Instructor at Ventura College, brings a diverse set of experiences including 5 years in agricultural production systems, 4 years in agricultural research and education, 6 years in community college instruction as well as appointments in program development. She holds a PhD from the University of California, Riverside in Entomology with a concentration in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Statistics along with a Bachelor's from the University of California, Santa Cruz in Biology and Environmental Studies with emphasis in Botany and Agroecology. Jennifer trained as an Apprentice in Ecological Horticulture at UC Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. She has worked on market gardens, family farms, and large-scale operations in citrus, grapes, nurseries, strawberries, herbs, lettuces, and edible flowers. Jennifer has used her academic and professional experience to coordinate elementary school garden programs.Jennifer readily supports the mission of the community college, to transform lives through education. Her approach involves building relationships with students and with agriculture partners, connecting the two together, and launching students into their life's work in agriculture. (this from CA Women in Ag newsletter, http://www.cwaventura.com/).More information about the Ventura College Agriculture Program can be found at http://www.venturacollege.edu/departments/academic/agriculture
Soil and agriculture courses are being taught again at Ventura College. There are only a handful California community (junior) colleges that still teach soils. Luckily Santa Barbara City, Allan Hancock, Pierce, Mira Costa and a few other community colleges have at least introductory courses in soils. Many of the leading growers in Ventura County got their start in college taking soils courses at Ventura College, then went on to four-year colleges to round out their educations. The community college classes have always been a taste, a dusting of understanding of soils and if someone wanted to dig deeper, they would go on to somewhere like Davis, Fresno, Riverside, Pomona or San Luis. The community colleges are part of the continuum, start there and then go anywhere.
Dr. Jennifer Charles-Tollerup, the incoming Agriculture Instructor at Ventura College, brings a diverse set of experiences including 5 years in agricultural production systems, 4 years in agricultural research and education, 6 years in community college instruction as well as appointments in program development. She holds a PhD from the University of California, Riverside in Entomology with a concentration in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Statistics along with a Bachelor's from the University of California, Santa Cruz in Biology and Environmental Studies with emphasis in Botany and Agroecology. Jennifer trained as an Apprentice in Ecological Horticulture at UC Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. She has worked on market gardens, family farms, and large-scale operations in citrus, grapes, nurseries, strawberries, herbs, lettuces, and edible flowers. Jennifer has used her academic and professional experience to coordinate elementary school garden programs.
Jennifer readily supports the mission of the community college, to transform lives through education. Her approach involves building relationships with students and with agriculture partners, connecting the two together, and launching students into their life's work in agriculture. (this from CA Women in Ag newsletter, http://www.cwaventura.com/).
More information about the Ventura College Agriculture Program can be found at http://www.venturacollege.edu/departments/academic/agriculture
Come learn the dirt on the differences - ground, alluvium, subsoil, topsoil, mud, muck, marl, mire, smut - there are, but some terms are more subtle than others. Check out your local college for their soils course work.
soil weathered from rock
Hispanics are more optimistic about paying for college
According to a new Gallup-Lumina Foundation study, 51 percent of Hispanics think “education beyond high school is affordable to anyone in this country who needs it.”
Just 19 percent of blacks and 17 percent of whites feel the same.
So why are Hispanics way more optimistic than their white and black peers about the affordability of postsecondary education?
“This is a population of folks who are very hungry for education and see it as a pathway to a better life,” Brandon Busteed, the Gallup lead on the study and executive director of Gallup Education, told Fusion.
One potential theory Busteed offers is that there's a large immigrant population in the Hispanic community and first-generation immigrants see education as the only pathway to a good job.
Another is that data indicates adults without a postsecondary credential are more likely to think college graduates are well-prepared for the workforce than those who hold a credential, and since Hispanic adults are less likely to hold a credential than their white peers, they may have more optimism about college.
Still, whites, on average, have more than nine times the wealth of Hispanics, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that they would have a more difficult time affording college. Yet Hispanic students are less likely to take out student loans and more likely to work, according to the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Latino students are also more likely to attend community colleges, which often have relatively low tuition, close to home, which allows students to work and cut out room and board costs.
The makeup of colleges is changing as more young Hispanics pursue higher education.
Between 1976 and 2011, the percentage of college students who identified as Hispanic rose from 4 percent to 14 percent, according to National Center for Education Statistics data. In 2012, seven out of 10 Latino high school graduates enrolled in college, according to the Pew Research Center, which was higher than the enrollment rate for students identifying as white or black.
The survey found that most Americans think colleges need to do more to prepare students for success in the working world, and that they need to do more to serve an increasingly diverse array of students. Virtually all adults in the United States think high schoolers need to go on to college or technical school to be successful in today's economy.
“We as country have got to get behind this Hispanic population that is coming to college with very high expectations for it and valuing it,” Busteed said, “and make sure we're supporting them in the right ways.”
Source: Originally published on Fusion.net asHispanics are way more optimistic about paying for college than everyone else, by Emily DeRuy, April 17, 2015.
High number of Latinos in California choose community college
The findings suggest that these young people are far more likely to attend community college than their peers from any other ethnic groups. Among graduates of public high schools that ranked in the top 10 percent statewide, 46 percent of Latinos enrolled at a community college, as compared to 27 percent of whites, 23 percent of African-Americans, and 19 percent of Asians.
Chief findings of the reports include:
- Latinos continue to experience inequities in transferring to four-year institutions. While the group represented more than 43 percent of the full-time enrollment at California’s Hispanic-serving community colleges, only 33 percent of students who transferred from these schools to the California State University system were Latino. Similarly, they represented just 21 percent of students who transferred from these community colleges to the UC system.
- While Latinos represent 45 percent of California’s college-aged population, they earned just 31 percent of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) bachelor’s degrees.
- In California’s Hispanic-serving community colleges, Latino and white students were found to earn an associate degree or certificate, transfer to a four-year institution or achieve transfer-prepared status at roughly the same rates. Sixty-five percent of first-time Latino students and 69 percent of white students successfully completed one of these milestones.
Separate and unequal majority
“It is in the best interest of all Californians that more Latinos earn a bachelor’s degree, that more of those who meet the admissions requirements for the University of California actually enroll, and that a larger share of the thousands of Latinos in community colleges transfer to four-year colleges,” says Estela Mara Bensimon, co-director of the Center for Urban Education.
“California’s system of higher education, especially Hispanic-Serving Institutions, will greatly influence whether California becomes a divided state with a separate and unequal Latino majority or the 21st-century model for Latino inclusiveness,” she says.
“The persistence of inequity in higher education participation and attainment will reduce the proportion of college-educated adults, which in turn will have detrimental effects on the state’s economy, workforce preparation, and the quality of life of aging baby boomers, as well as to aspirations to be a society that provides equal opportunities regardless of race or socioeconomic status.”
Source: Posted originally on theUniversity of Southern California news page as High number of Latinos in California choose community college, by Merrill Balassone, November 13, 2013.
The Louise Wibourn Yarbrough Horticulture and Plant Institute
The Solano Community College (SCC) Horticulture Building 1000 is no more. On August 19, 2013, a dedication ceremony took place to name the building and grounds the Louise Wibourn Yarbrough Horticulture and Plant Institute. A massive pergola now sits out in front of the building where the site was dedicated.
Louise and her husband, Billy, grew up in Oklahoma and came as farmers to Solano county in 1955. Billy established Solano Concrete in 1960 and because of his love of youth sports, opened various sports fields throughout the community. The current SCC baseball stadium is also a result of the generosity and efforts of Louise and Billy. Although Billy is no longer alive, Louise continues to be an avid gardener, an advocate for children and a stakeholder for the Solano County communities.
The future of the new institute can be seen by looking back to a couple of years ago. A fire swept through several acres of the planting grounds adjacent to the Horticulture classrooms and greenhouses, destroying all vegetation. Louise helped in securing a California fire grant award for land reclamation and orchard replacement at the college. Her efforts in support of ballot-passing Measures "G" and "Q" have now given rise to a whole new future of Horticulture to both students and the general public.
The Horticulture faculty, in particular, Ken Williams and Sandy Diehl, along with some input from others, came up with the Horticulture Expansion Project, which is now in progress. Land is being cleared and Louise has funded grading. Forty-six orchard trees are awaiting planting. Important to note is the Botanical Garden. It was designed by one of Ken Williams' Landscaping II students, Candy Pond. This will be an Ornamental Botanical Garden joining with Benicia's Forest Deaner Native Plant Garden in showcasing Solano County garden attractions. Also shown are expanded Community gardens and a Farmers Market. Sandy Diehls' Adaptive Students will have their gardens enhanced and be able to sell vegetables and other plants that they grow at this market. Proceeds will help support the college Horticulture program. Sustainable Agriculture, Orchards and a UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener demonstration/presentation area under the direction of the Master Gardener Program Coordinator, Jennifer Baumbach are other areas where students and the public can learn and interact for everyone's benefit.
It's truly an exciting time for all.
Hort Expansion Project Pergola dedication flyer.
Hort Expansion Project layout.