Butte holding academic showcase for high schoolers

BUTTE VALLEY >> In spite of the COVID-19 virus limiting in-person attendance for students and faculty, Butte College has held a series of academic showcases for high school seniors seeking attendance at the college in the fall.

Beginning Feb. 11, Butte College and Director of Assessment Eric Hoiland held showcases each Thursday with departments including business and cosmetology; foods, nutrition and nursing; education, child and family studies, and english and journalism; computer science, drafting, and engineering and mathematics; and recording arts and music, all ahead of today’s final showcase which will feature the communication studies department.

A showcase with the automotive technology department was planned for Feb. 23 but was forced to be canceled after instructors were unable to attend.

Traditionally when students are attending the Butte College campus inperson, faculty and student services reach out to high school seniors from roughly 40 high schools in Butte County and Glenn County helping them complete all of the pre- enrollment requirements. In May, students go through counseling and registration.

“We’ve always known that of all of our high school seniors don’t really know what to do and we haven’t had a great way in the past of introducing our high school seniors to many of the new programs at the college,” Hoiland said. “So one of our staff came up with this idea to have these academic showcases.”

The concept was — for five nights in February and five nights in March — to bring faculty as well as students from different departments together on a Zoom call where students had the opportunity to ask questions and learn about different programs. Instructors detailed the format of the classes, whether it would be in-person, virtual or a combination, as well as job possibilities following their programs.

“Students who are in those programs right now share their experiences with the program and kind of give it a real personal feeling,” Hoiland said.

Ysabel Der Torossian, a senior at Oakbridge Academy and Oakdale Academy in Chico, attended the nursing showcase on Feb. 11 after hearing about the event from a teacher at Oakbridge.

Der Torossian said the nursing showcase featured the program instructor for the certified nursing assistant program as well as the three- semester registered nursing program instructor at Butte College.

Though already wanting to attend Butte College after graduation in May, Der Torossian said that the showcase drew her interest in more after hearing about job possibilities following graduation. The certified nursing assistant program was something in particular that caught Der Torossian’s attention.

“It is an eight week program and the instructor described it in detail,” Der Torossian said. “( The instructor) explained what happens after the program, like you can get a job with working with patients even before you graduate college because you’ll be a certified nursing assistant.”

While many aspects at Butte College will return to in-person attendance in the fall, Hoiland sees this aspect of reaching out to high school seniors as something that may stay virtual going forward.

“Here’s an opportunity where students can jump on and faculty can jump on and share this experience together,” Hoiland said. “We probably couldn’t replicate this in an in-person environment to the extent that we can, so I do see this as being a way that something that will probably stay just like this because we could never do this during the day time.”

“We haven’t had a great way in the past of introducing our high school seniors to many of the new programs at the college. So one of our staff came up with this idea to have these academic showcases.” — Eric Hoiland, director of Assessment for high schools