Ledger-Dispatch

By Helen Bonner=20

Instructor Taras Marchak conducts an = Aug. 26=20 college composition class during the first week of the fall = semester at=20 Cosumnes River College, which has a learning center presence in = Amador=20 County.

Photo by: Helen = Bonner
Last=20 Tuesday night, the first week of the Cosumnes River College classes, = Carli=20 Mathis sat in front of the makeshift and unmarked Amador Learning = Center,=20 wondering what to do.

Having registered days earlier for a = writing class,=20 she was told upon entering the classroom that, because of unexpectedly = high=20 enrollment, she was now registered for a later class. Because she goes = to work=20 at 5 in the morning, Mathis was not happy about being switched to a = class that=20 gets out at 10:30 p.m.

While Mathis sat outside a class going on = without=20 her, Ryan Smith arrived for his class in emergency medical technology. = Smith had=20 driven all the way from Sacramento. Having registered online on the Los = Rios=20 Community College Web site, he did not have proper directions, and the = squat=20 temporary building near Sutter Hill was not easy to find. From Highway = 49, one=20 takes Highway l04 to Bowers, then down Academy to arrive at Independence = High=20 School, a continuation school.

Smith was already late, and there = was no=20 Learning Center or EMT class. Inquiring at the school's office, he was = told they=20 had nothing to do with the college class. By this time, another EMT = student,=20 Brooks Ware, also from Sacramento, had arrived. Ware got on his cell = phone and=20 finally learned the EMT class was being taught at the American Legion = Ambulance=20 Training room. The printed schedule would have told him that, but Brooks = had=20 also registered online.

Half an hour after classes started, the = second=20 room at the Learning Center remained locked, and in the other room the = English=20 class was proceeding with only a dozen students. One more student = arrived, who=20 did not want his name used.

Having spent half an hour looking for = something called the Learning Center, but finding only a building with=20 wheelchair-friendly signs that, to him, "looked like rest rooms," he was = about=20 to give up when a bystander directed him to the American Legion Hall. = There,=20 Capt. Tony Mathos and his assistant, DeAnne Bowning, were already = underway with=20 a classroom of more than 33 eager students of all ages.

Taras = Marchak,=20 instructor of the college composition class, said enrollment had been=20 exceptionally high this fall, prompting Cosumnes administrators to break = the=20 class into two sections at the last minute. Some of his students had = previously=20 been commuting to Folsom. One of them, Dixie Sutton, had learned of the = class=20 from an e-mail circulated to the County Administration Center. She = congratulated=20 Pat Blacklock, the Cosumnes dean of careers and former county = administrative=20 officer, for initiating that e-mail. "I think more people should be made = aware=20 of these classes."

A class she had taken previously, called = English for=20 Professionals, had started with only six students, and ended with three. = "Because of its name, I think," she surmised. "Any basic college English = class=20 would teach the finer skills of editing that we need to avoid careless = or=20 bureaucratic writing in our jobs."

Cosumnes River College is = under the=20 auspices of the Los Rios Community College District, a two-year public = college=20 district that includes American River College, Sacramento City College = and=20 Folsom Lake College, with 75,000 students in 70 career fields. Cosumnes=20 administrators have been working for nearly 10 years with Amador County=20 supervisors, the school district and Community College Foundation, a = local=20 citizens group, to create the Learning Center that opened its doors last = year.

The Amador Learning Center Web site reads: "This learning = center=20 will establish a formal community college presence in Amador = County."

One=20 problem has been the scattering of classes under other colleges, like = San=20 Joaquin Delta. Another is the prevalence of online learning. "Online = learning=20 does not provide the encouragement and personal response that college = freshmen=20 need," one student said. "And with so many online classes, we need to be = able to=20 cluster our courses under one college in order to get a = degree."

Other=20 suggestions have been posted online by students. Sheri Carson wrote: "My = husband=20 and I are both full-time students, and none of the courses offered in = Amador=20 County have helped me. Maybe they should try offering job training = courses like=20 accounting or advanced math."

Student Gwen Johnson, suggested = public=20 speaking course. "It's a hardship to drive to Columbia, Folsom, = Placerville or=20 Sacramento, especially if you're working," she added.

In the = past, low=20 enrollment has been a problem, according to Cosumnes Dean Donald = Tingley. "But=20 this fall's higher enrollment is good news."

President Francisco=20 Rodriguez said he will be meeting with the new superintendent of Amador = schools,=20 Dick Glock, this fall to discuss further improvements.

Besides = the EMT=20 and English composition class, Cosumnes is offering fire technology,=20 photography, computer information science, and early childhood education = this=20 fall. The last day to enroll online, if you get a permission number = first, is=20 Sept. 7. Visit www.crc.losrios.edu/ for more information.

Helen Bonner
Ledger Dispatch Contributor=20