Continuing education program at Pierce College makes a move

After 21 years of serving students at a satellite campus, the Pierce College Continuing Education Program will move back to the main campus.

Yet Lisa Reeves, director of Continuing Education, said it?s bittersweet.

?We like being located out in the community away from the campus,? she said, ?but, due to budget cutbacks, it is in the best interest that we move back to campus to save college money.?

Reeves said Continuing Education moved to the 112th Street location in 1990, then to the South Hill Park location in 2004.

?This has been a great location for us,? she said, noting easy access to parking and the building suited their needs at the time.

At the same time, Reeves and the other instructors are excited about the move. More campus resources will be available to support students, including campus safety, staff members to take care of classrooms and updated computer classrooms.

Project Management instructor Betty Boushey said she?s looking forward to moving back to Pierce College Puyallup?s main campus. Although the South Hill campus provided easy access to the freeway, Boushey said the classrooms were old.

?The Pierce College campus has rooms with bright walls and wonderful equipment,? she said.

There was such a wide selection of classes offered at the South Hill campus that Boushey said it sometimes made teaching a bit of a challenge. Right across the hall from her class was a men?s choral group, and the Celtic fiddlers were down the hall.

?You could really get into the fun of it all,? she said. ?But we had to close doors and ears because there was so much going on.?

Suzanne Fletcher-Petrich, who teaches medical coding classes, said the move will be positive.

?It will be good for the new students to connect with people in the field, and it will be good for the more experienced students to connect with the college,? Fletcher-Petrich said. ?Several of the ?smart? classrooms have document cameras, which will be great to show students with code books exactly what I am looking at without having to go to each student in turn.?

To celebrate the move and to help continuing-education students get into the groove at the main campus, Pierce College will offer a series of free classes.

?We thought it would give our students and potential students a taste of what we offer,? Reeves said.

The free classes will run from Jan. 12-14. They will include a painting session on how to choose the right medium, one on making the right choice between Yoga and Piyo, an introduction to Tai Chi, and one on buying a new computer.

?I?m ready for the move,? Reeves said. ?It is time to be engaged and reconnect with the staff on campus.?

Free Classes offered at Pierce College

For more information or how to register for continuing education classes at Pierce College, call 253-840-8452 or visit www.pierce.ctc.edu.

Joan Cronk is a freelance reporter for The Herald.

Source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/12/16/1947880/continuing-education-program-at.html?storylink=rss

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