Enrichment Offerings for Lifelong Learners

The Community and Continuing Education Department at Kalamazoo Valley Community College provides innovative and relevant lifelong learning opportunities for community members of all ages. These non-credit classes emphasize personal enrichment, professional development and community outreach.

Registration is now open for a variety of winter and spring career and continuing education courses. There are cooking and nutrition classes at the Marilyn J. Schlack Culinary and Allied Health building. The winter course list includes beer and food pairings, an introduction to home brewing class, a cooking with chocolate class and even a hands-on cooking class for teens.

The Groves Campus will also host robotics workshops for youth, a Photoshop class for high school students, a Spanish for the Traveler class in February, a May 21 Basic Computer Skills class for adults, and several other enrichment options.

The Food Innovation Center in downtown Kalamazoo will host various farm, garden and sustainable foods offerings including trainings on beekeeping, composting, backyard poultry, mushroom cultivation, spring foraging and herb walks and more. Career academy offerings include the next Wind Turbine Technician Academy, a 24-week-long academy that begins on Jan. 3. Graduates of this fast-paced, hands-on academy train to become world-class technicians in the wind energy industry. Patient Care Academy trains participants to take the State of Michigan examination to become Certified Nursing Assistants. The course is seven weeks long and begins on Jan. 21.

A 10-week long Phlebotomy Technician Academy begins on Jan. 28. The course is taught in partnership with Bronson Hospital. Students learn to draw blood from patients and prepare it for diagnostic testing.

The Feb. 17 Corrections Officer Academy rounds out the non-credit career training offerings. The four-week-long academy trains correctional personnel who supervise inmates in county jails, focusing on the skills necessary to maintain the safety and security of a correctional facility.

Corporate training classes, held at The Groves Campus, include Intro to Microsoft Excel 2016, a two-hour long session offered on Jan. 21. A 36-hour-long EMT Refresher course will be offered in January for licensed Basic EMTs or as a refresher to EMT students. A Paramedic Refresher is also being hosted at The Groves in February. The course is designed around the curriculum for a Paramedic Refresher program.

Dental Radiography is offered on April 24 and 25 and May 1 and 2. The course prepares the dental assistant for exposing, processing, mounting and critiquing radiographs for diagnostic quality in the dental office.

A Quick State Guide to Lean Free Informational Session is offered on Feb. 11 from 8 to 10 a.m. Participants will be given an introduction into the functionality and benefits of utilizing a Lean approach and an introduction into the Quick Start Guide to Lean course.

A booklet listing all of the college’s winter and spring Life Enrichment, Career Academies, Community Culinary and Nutrition, Corporate Training and Professional Development, and Sustainability offerings will be available at all campuses in December. The complete schedule is also available at www.kvcc.edu/community.