In an effort to help locals get a foothold in the health-care and energy industries, Unlimited Learning Center in Cortez is working to prepare students for entry-level career or postsecondary paths with new programming dubbed the STEM Prep Learning Labs.<\/p>\n
With the help of a $450,000 Adult Education and Literacy Grant from the state Department of Education, Unlimited Learning staff and its partners have been working to develop the hands-on, industry-focused science, technology and math curriculum that fortifies concepts needed to get on a career-ready path, explained the center\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo us, a GED is worthless unless you can get a good job with it,\u201d said Ann Miller, director of the Unlimited Learning Center. \u201cSo, through this new program we\u2019re hoping to train students who are thinking of enrolling in post-secondary program, going straight into an entry-level career to make a self-sustaining wage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlimited Learning\u2019s partners in the grant include Pine River Community Learning Center in Ignacio and Montrose Adult Education Center in Montrose County. The health-care and energy STEM Labs developed at Unlimited Learning in Cortez will be used at the partner schools as well.<\/p>\n
The curriculum is built on four principles: mechanical, electrical, fluid and thermal. Aside from hands-on labs in which students put basic STEM principles into action, the curriculum offers math and communication modules, and counseling.<\/p>\n
The goal, Miller says, is to ensure mastery of basic concepts found in textbooks, and bring them to life for students \u2013 many of whom are second-language learners or have low reading levels \u2013 in practical ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to increase motivation and answer the question many students have when they\u2019re reading something in a textbook or hearing it in a lecture: \u2018Why am I learning this?'\u201d said Miller.<\/p>\n
Coaches will assist students in completing lab and other activities, providing mentoring and referrals as needed.<\/p>\n
Those who complete all four modules with a score of at least 80 percent may take the Accuplacer Test if they\u2019re interested in continuing education and will obtain a certificate of completion.<\/p>\n
STEM Lab health-care instructor Caitlyn Reese, a Fort Lewis College grad with a bachelor\u2019s degree in cellular molecular biology, is building her curriculum.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited. I think this is a super interesting way to learn these things compared to sitting in a lecture,\u201d said Reese.<\/p>\n
Tony Otero, of the San Juan College School of Energy, is developing the curriculum for the energy track, Miller said.<\/p>\n
To learn more about the program, call 970-565-1601.<\/p>\n
The Unlimited Learning Center is enrolling for the new school year.
\n To register to take classes for a GED, visit the center from 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday to fill out paperwork and sign up for an orientation.
\n The center is at 640 E. Second St. in Cortez. More information: 970-565-1601.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
to energy, health-care program<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6355],"tags":[44,188],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-110001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ds-education","tag-dolores","tag-dolores-star"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110001\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110001"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=110001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}