Community education courses offer opportunities for personal and professional growth, skill development, and community building for learners of all ages. SUNY Westchester Community College’s education courses offer flexible options, including evening and weekend classes, and cover a wide range of topics from arts to technology to history.
“The feedback we receive from our students is fantastic,” says Gabrielle Fox, director of community education for SUNY Westchester Community College (SUNY WCC). “They love learning and they love connecting with people in their classes.”
The Workforce Development and Community Education program at WCC also oversees the Virginia Marx Children’s Center on the WCC campus, as well as the Collegium for Lifelong Learning Program. “We like to say that we serve students from six weeks to 95 years old! It’s important because it adds joy, knowledge, and connection to the community,” Fox shares.
A Course for Everything
The community education courses offered cover a wide range of subjects that are useful in everyday life. They provide a variety of health and wellness courses like reiki, meditation, and tai chi; exercise courses that focus on all kinds of physical activity from swimming to martial arts; and history, culture, music, language, nature and environment, and writing courses, among many others.
“We offer courses based on student and community feedback, as well as searching through dozens of course proposals submitted by the community each semester,” explains Fox. “Some courses, like the ones in our Collegium Program for Retired Adults, are not based on skills, but instead the love of learning and social aspects that it provides.”
In other courses, such as swim classes or language classes, the instructors create a syllabus and outline which skills they’d like students to develop. These, of course, are crafted with the understanding that these are goals, as these classes do not have traditional tests or grades.
SUNY WCC also offers the award-winning Taste of Westchester program, which provides unique culinary experiences all over Westchester County. The courses are held at restaurants in Westchester and feature private chef demonstrations, followed by a sampling of the prepared items. Classes are open to those ages 21 and up, fees do not include beverages (except where noted), and sampling fees are payable in cash only.
How to Sign up for Courses
Each semester, a booklet containing information about most of SUNY WCC’s life-long learning classes is mailed out to the community. Alternatively, those interested in signing up for a class can visit SUNY WCC’s website for more details about the community education courses.
The courses do not have a traditional application process. Instead, students can simply call the registration office at 914.606.6830 to register for a course and/or speak to a member of the community education registration team to find out if the course is the right fit for them.
Building Community
Like everything else, the community education courses were affected by the pandemic, and it is only in the last few years that SUNY WCC’s in-person classes are back and thriving, particularly the Collegium for Lifelong Learning program, which is a self-governing organization affiliated with WCC that’s dedicated to combining serious study with social exchange among members.
“As we move forward, I think we can see an increase in offerings across the board, as well as more student input into the classes that we offer,” Fox explains. “We truly offer something for everyone, build community, are reasonably priced, and centrally located! We look forward to seeing new faces every semester.”
Next Steps
To learn more about the Community Education program at SUNY Westchester Community College, visit the website here, or call 914.606-6830.
Related: Youth Programs Help Westchester High School Students Build Skills
