{"id":25302,"date":"2024-10-15T16:57:35","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T22:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pueblo-community-college-shows-off-new-classes-simulators\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:14:16","slug":"pueblo-community-college-shows-off-new-classes-simulators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pueblo-community-college-shows-off-new-classes-simulators\/","title":{"rendered":"Pueblo Community College shows off new classes, simulators"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A classroom full of forestry officials at Pueblo Community College on Wednesday, Oct. 9. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

To showcase its new forestry and wildland fire programs, as well as new simulator technology for those classes, Pueblo Community College recently invited those in the industry to an open house on its Mancos campus.<\/p>\n

At 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 9, about 20 people \u2013 mostly from the U.S. Forest Service \u2013 crowded into Room 101 to watch Laurel Smerch, the college\u2019s coordinator of natural resources, and Greg Felsen, an accessible education specialist at CSU Extension, present on the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cClass is in session,\u201d Felsen joked as the presentation began.<\/p>\n

Smerch began by talking about a bill that passed in Colorado last May that created a $25 million scholarship program for high school graduates across the state pursuing \u201chigh-priority postsecondary pathways,\u201d according to the bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To be eligible, students can be full- or part-time, and need not prove financial need. The definition of \u201cpathway\u201d is inclusive to many things, namely education and apprenticeships.<\/p>\n

She said that in Colorado, 30 jobs open in the forest sector each year, and 480 open in firefighting. Therefore, forestry and wildland are considered \u201chigh-priority\u201d pathways.<\/p>\n

Simply put, students interested in Pueblo Community College\u2019s forestry and wildland two-year certificate just might be eligible to pursue it for free, or at a subsidized rate.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s Career Advance Colorado<\/a>, too, that\u2019s essentially the same as the aforementioned bill, except at Pueblo Community College, it awards scholarships for students pursuing construction, early childhood education, firefighting, law enforcement and nursing \u2013 not forestry.<\/p>\n

But, back to the program.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a 17-credit certificate to streamline students entering the workforce in forestry, park service, land use, fire ecology and wildland firefighting sector, according to the presentation.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll learn timber measurements, species identification, how to administer ecological surveys, logging practices and how to use a chain saw, she said.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll also learn the basics of being on the front lines of wildfires and forest ecology.<\/p>\n

The certificate is made up of three full semester forestry classes, two weeklong trainings \u2013 the wildland firefighter training and wildfire chain saws \u2013 and a choice of one of three electives: intro to environmental science, biology or a drone class.<\/p>\n

Merch said students can take classes individually; they don\u2019t have to be enrolled full-time, and can pick and choose which classes to take.<\/p>\n

After the presentation and giving those in the room the chance to ask questions, Smerch shifted gears and demonstrated how to use the simulator at the back of the room.<\/p>\n

The harvesting software was undergoing updates, but the construction one was up and going, so she selected \u201cdump truck simulator\u201d as those in the room craned their necks and moved chairs to watch.<\/p>\n

\"Laurel
Laurel Smerch demonstrating how the college\u2019s new construction simulator works. (Cameryn Cass\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The three flat screens lit up to display a construction scene, complete with cones and a shadow from the crane overhead.<\/p>\n

Smerch practiced basic controls, like loading and unloading, and driving on a slope.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was for learning about the development of the program and the upcoming classes,\u201d Smerch told The Journal <\/em>as people in the room took turns testing out the simulator.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 2 to Dec. 6, there\u2019s a Wildfire Chain Saws class, scheduled tactically so that students can harvest a tree for the holiday season.<\/p>\n

In spring, there will be the first rounds of forestry classes, and the next wildland fire opportunity will be next summer, from June 2 to June 7.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greatest access point for rural students is community college,\u201d said Felsen. \u201cWe need pathways into education that link to jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, though the program is developing at its Mancos campus, Pueblo Community College hopes to spread it to other campuses, too. It also hopes to draw in students from the Four Corners region and beyond to partake in the program and ultimately address the need for firefighters and foresters in the region.<\/p>\n

With any questions on getting involved, reach out to Laurel Smerch at laurel.smerch@pueblocc.edu<\/a> or Perry Pepper, the regional director of academic services at the college at Perry. Pepper@pueblocc.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

open house to learn about the forestry program and to try out new equipment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25302","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=25302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78881,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25302\/revisions\/78881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25302"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}