Home News Archives General VGCC faculty help Basic Skills students plan for future education

VGCC faculty help Basic Skills students plan for future education

Students in Basic Skills programs at Vance-Granville Community College recently received additional insight into where their education could take them. As part of enhancing the 12-hour orientation session that each Adult High School or GED student attends, the Basic Skills department partnered with all of VGCC’s Business and Applied Technologies programs, which offer degrees, diplomas and certificates in a number of career fields. Instructors from these programs spoke to Basic Skills students in September, advising and encouraging them to focus on exploring life, career, and educational goals. They also gave the students information about their curriculum programs along with tips to help them when they are in the job market. “Our faculty motivated students to continue to study and get their GED’s,” said Esdras De La Torre, VGCC’s recruiter/counselor for Basic Skills. “With all the new information that students received, they will be better equipped to deal with life and their future. Some students often have no idea how to go about earning a degree; they do not know what steps they must take or the details of what institutions or the job market expect of them.”

 

Participating faculty members included Bobby Van Brunt, Dean of Business and Applied Technologies ; Robert Hudson, Electrical/Electronics Technology program head/instructor; Keith Tunstall, Carpentry program head/instructor; Rusty Pace, Welding Technology program head/instructor; Fred Brewer, Automotive Systems Technology program head/instructor; Tomeka Moss, Cosmetology program head/instructor; Carl Hann, Business Administration / Accounting / Entrepreneurship program head/instructor; Wesley Smith, Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Technology program head/instructor; Donna Gill and Steven Sievert, Computer Education instructors; Andrea Ferguson, Criminal Justice Technology program head/instructor; Amy O’Geary, Office Administration instructor; Walter Martin, Director of Global Logistics Technology ; and Wesley Williams, Electronics Engineering Technology program head/instructor.

 

“Research shows that frequent and meaningful contact with faculty members focusing on intellectual or career-related issues seems to increase students’ involvement, which motivates and encourages students to finish their program of study in Adult Education,” said Esdras De La Torre.

 

“Academic advising for our Basic Skills students through orientation is helping to lay the groundwork for our students to develop their abilities and achieve personal, educational, and career goals,” VGCC Director of Basic Skills Sue Grissom said. “Once they complete their GED or Adult High School, students may receive one semester of curriculum education at VGCC free, so now they have some ideas about the opportunities available right here.” For more information on Basic Skills programs , call Sue Grissom at (252) 492-2061, ext. 3315.  

 

Above: VGCC Electrical/Electronics Technology program head/instructor Robert Hudson discusses his curriculum program with students at a VGCC Basic Skills orientation session in September.