South Valley students with busy lives don’t have to travel to
Gavilan Community College’s main Gilroy campus.
South Valley students with busy lives don’t have to travel to Gavilan Community College’s main Gilroy campus. In convenient locations near their home, they can take accredited courses at “satellite” locations in Morgan Hill and Hollister as well as on-line classes via the Internet.
“We’ve done some scheduling things in the last few semesters to enable people to take more of their classes at the satellite classes,” said Jan Bernstein Chargin, Gavilan’s director of public information.
The satellite and on-line courses make it easier for students by giving them more flexibility in time and as well as travel options, she said.
In Morgan Hill, home to many engineers, more advanced computer programming classes are offered at Gavilan’s location in the Community Center at Dunne Avenue and Monterey Street. Computer courses here include introduction to the XML, Visual Basic, Unix languages. Also offered are courses in global information systems.
“Morgan Hill is closer to Silicon Valley so we have more of the high-tech classes there,” Chargin said. “They take a lot of computer programming there.”
In Hollister, Gavilan students meet at the Briggs Building at Fourth and San Benito streets.
The Briggs Building site in Hollister also offers a “University Center” where students can earn a bachelors degree in business through the California State University, Monterey Bay.
Both satellite locations offer classes in philosophy, public speaking and other subjects that fulfill general education requirements for students who wish to transfer to four-year colleges and universities.
People taking classes at Gavilan’s satellite locations come from a wide variety of demographics. Many are recent high school graduates and current high school students, but adults also take courses for fun as well to advance their careers. Working professionals also take evening classes to improve their job skills.
On-line and telecourse classes are also opening Gavilan College to people who are interested distance learning. Students can take classes via the Internet or through their local cable TV channels.
“That is one of our areas of greatest growth,” Chargin said.
Courses offered through distance learning include theater history, nutrition and other Allied Health classes, art appreciation, basic digital film and video editing, and general education courses such as English and math.
“It works for a lot of students,” Chargin said. “People are balancing a lot of things. A lot of our students have very busy lives with family, work and school. And taking an on-line class pretty much makes it easier. They don’t have to drive to class.”
For more information, call Gavilan College’s Admission and Records at (408) 848-4735 or (408) 782-2873. Web site: www.gavilan.edu
