October 2015
Cabrillo classes begin
LIFE Everything Aptos, Capitola and Soquel 3
Enrollment slightly down, EMT program burgeoning By TODD GUILD WATSONVILLE — Thousands of students walked onto Cabrillo College’s Aptos and Watsonville campuses as classes began Aug. 31, many of them for the first time since graduating high school last spring. “I’m really excited,” said Mikaela Gregory, 18, of Soquel. “This is a new chapter in my life.” Gregory said she plans to take general education courses, a plan she hopes simultaneously will help her decide on a major and complete her general education courses, thus paving her way when she transfers to a four-year university. Gregory is one of 11,882 students currently enrolled at Cabrillo, a number that is expected to change in a few weeks when college officials do the final census. Nearly 1,900 students are taking classes at the Watsonville location. Those numbers are still approximately 3 percent below last year’s enrollment, following a trend for community colleges statewide over the past three semesters,
said Cabrillo spokeswoman Kristin Fabos. While the college’s number crunchers might fret about such a decline, it points to an improving economy in which would-be students are working more hours and have less time to take classes, Fabos said. At the same time, Cabrillo is seeing an increase in students taking online and distance education classes, likely because of their busy schedules, Fabos said. Despite the decline in enrollment, the college’s Emergency Medical Technician program is full, and despite three classes and an expansion into Watsonville’s Solari Center, all of them have a sizable waitlist. “There is great demand for this program in the community,” said Dr. Isabel A. O’Connor, Dean of the Human Arts and Social Sciences division. The move to the Watsonville campus allows teachers to use the lab at the relatively new Solari Center, a plus after using the parking lot at the Aptos campus, O’Connor said. It also put the classes in South County, where a large percentage of students in the program live, she said.
Students fill the quad at Cabrillo College in Aptos on the first day of the fall semester. Photo by Todd Guild
Teacher Shane Bell, also a firefighter with Alameda County Fire, said the class is so popular because it is required for entry into most firefighting programs. It is also ideal for future paramedics, police officers and other emergency personnel. The medical training, he said, is a good lead-in to several medical careers including nursing and physician’s assistant, Bell said.
“From my first year, I have five students who are in medical school,” he said. Bell said Cabrillo’s program recently placed in the top 25 such programs in the nation, and that 90 percent of the students pass their state exams on their first attempt. But those numbers aren’t important to Bell as the program’s placement rates. “Our students get jobs, that’s the important thing,” he said.
Salad bars expanding across county schools Staff report SANTA CRUZ COUNTY — The County of Santa Cruz announced an expanded partnership with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group that increases the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables for schoolchildren across the county. Through the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and its donors, the “Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools” program will add at least five new salad bars at local
schools. In addition to a number of schools that already provide salad bars for their students, New Brighton Middle School and Boulder Creek, DeLaveaga, Gault, Bay View, Rio Del Mar and Starlight elementary schools also have salad bars as a result of the partnership. “Providing salad bars to schools throughout Santa Cruz County ensures greater access to locally grown, healthy fruits and vegetables for every child, all at no local cost,” said Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend.
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Under direction from the Centers for Disease Control and in support of State Superintendent for Public Instruction Tom Torlakson’s “Team California for Healthy Kids” initiative, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group has provided 122 salad bars cost-free to schools in Alameda, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, serving 98,000 children. “It’s very clear that if young children are put on the rightpath to a healthy lifestyle — eating right and getting plenty of exercise — they will be better students
and will receive a quality education. This is an opportunity to make a difference in children’s lives,” said Casey Beyer, a senior advisor at Silicon Valley Leadership Group. The new schools to receive salad bars have not been determined. In conjunction with the Board of Supervisors and health officials, the partnership hopes to provide at least one in each of the county’s five supervisorial districts.