Holmes Campus Plans to Expand Offerings through Upgrades to Distance Learning Lab
The Wayne College Holmes Campus is gearing up to expand offerings in a big way with a make-over and complete upgrade of our Distance Learning Lab. Expanded use of DL technology has enabled us to broaden our offerings by linking students in Millersburg to live real-time classrooms at Wayne College, the Medina County University Center and UA Lakewood. Having successfully doubled our DL offerings in each of the past two years, we hope to continue that upward trend by tapping into the nearly 500 credits of programming offered each semester by the University of Akron through its various locations.
The upgraded lab is being brought on-line this spring affording students currently enrolled in DL coursework the chance to experience the improved technology mid-semester. Through technical improvements and greater collaboration with other UA campuses, WCHC will also be offering a broad schedule of classes during the summer for the first time in many years.
Each February for the past eight years we’ve filled the WCHC with future students for “College Goal Sunday” afternoon as volunteers from Wayne College, Ashland University, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, the Holmes County Education Foundation, Hiland High School and West Holmes High School to help future college students and their families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Following closely on the heels of that event is our Post-Secondary Enrollment Options Program Information Night where we invite students in the 9th, 10th and 11th grades, along with their parents, to WCHC to learn about the opportunity to gain college credit while they are still in high school.
Six times throughout the year the Center acts as the only local testing site for the national ACT, the key college entrance exam. As a further service to area students, in July, WCHC will once again play host to an intensive, one-day “ACT Turbo Workshop”. The course, organized and underwritten by the Holmes County Education Foundation, is open to students in the Holmes County area seeking to improve upon their ACT scores, and is being offered at a very minimal cost. Students may elect to have the registration fee waived entirely by performing several hours of service within the community. Last year’s workshop was a quick sell out, so it’s important to register early!
Last summer, in pursuit of our day-to-day mission of fostering the concept of lifelong learning, we ramped up our non-credit, general interest offerings for both the adult student population as well as local children. “Summer at the Center” was a great success and will enable us to expand our summer offerings even further in 2014! Watch the Center’s website for details!
In addition to “traditional” coursework, special events like the ACT , College Goal Sunday and Summer at the Center are incredibly valuable to us in terms of showing folks exactly what we mean when we say that the Wayne College Holmes Campus is “Your Community’s College.”