Monday, September 30, 2013

16th Annual Arts & Olive Festival at Cañada College Oct. 6

The classic rock riffs of Santana, Styx, Heart, and Fleetwood Mac will echo through the olive orchards at the 16th annual Arts & Olive Festival at Cañada College.

The festival will be held from 10 am to 5 pm, Sunday, Oct. 6 on the college grounds, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd., Redwood City. Cañada is conveniently located off Highway 280 at the Farm Hill Blvd. exit. Parking and admission are free but a $5 donation is requested to help fund student scholarships at the school. Approximately $10,000 is raised annually through the festival to help community college students attend school.

This year’s festival entertainment includes Radar Love, a ‘70s and ‘80s cover band, and Chameleon, a Santana tribute band. A full list of entertainment can be found at www.olivefest.org.

The campus, which is part of the San Mateo County Community College District, is situated in a beautiful setting amongst hundreds of olive trees. The festival features Northern California olive growers offering samples of unique olive-related food products including cured olives, olive oil, flavored oils, and vinegars. Festival goers can also browse a variety of arts and crafts, enjoy wine and craft beer, and purchase food from local restaurants.

The festival also includes a free children’s area with face painting, storytelling, balloon animals, a marionette show and more.

For more information, go to www.olivefest.org.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Join us for Artistry in Fashion on Saturday, Sept. 28

Have you ever dreamed about being a fashion designer? Do you enjoy the fun and creativity that goes into designing beautiful clothing? If you are a fashionista – or even if you’re not, come join us at Cañada College on Saturday, Sept. 28 from 10 am to 4 pm for the 22nd annual Artistry in Fashion event.

Since 1991, the Cañada College Fashion Department has hosted Artistry in Fashion, bringing together fashion lovers, students, faculty, and premier local designers and fabric artists for an exciting day of fashion and creativity, all for the benefit of student scholarships and materials.
Don’t miss a dazzling fashion show by esteemed fashion educator and Director of the Center for Pattern Design, Sandra Ericson. Learn what it takes to become a fashion designer from Cañada's acclaimed fashion instructors. You'll also have the opportunity to buy clothing, jewelry, and other fashions on sale from more than 60 local designers.

Admission is only $10 and benefits the Canada College Fashion Department. Parking is free.

For more information, visit artistryinfashion.com or call 650-306-3370.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

September 23 Information Session on Sequoia/SFSU Nursing Program at Cañada


Sequoia Hospital and San Francisco State University will host an information session from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 23 regarding their Baccalaureate Nursing Program at Cañada College. It will be held in Building 6, Room 112. The information session is free and open to anyone interested in pursuing a degree in nursing.
The program was founded in 2004 as a four-way partnership between the Sequoia Health Care District, Sequoia Hospital, Cañada College, and San Francisco State University. The program provides an additional 40 places each year for students interested in and qualified for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing and helps address the nursing shortage in the San Francisco Bay Area and southern portion of San Mateo County.

All courses are taught by San Francisco State University faculty on the Cañada College campus. Sequoia Hospital provides most of the clinical placements for student in the program. In addition, the hospital supports students with various scholarship opportunities.
The program prepares students for entry level nursing positions in hospitals, community clinics, long term care, home care, and community health agencies. Graduates work as staff nurses in the following areas: maternity, pediatrics, medical-surgical nursing, gerontology, psychiatric/mental health, and public/community health nursing.

For more information, visit the Sequoia Hospital/SFSU Baccalaureate Nursing Program at Cañada College Fact Sheet.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Former Cañada College Student Rose Whitmore Receives Prestigious Literary Prize

Former Cañada College student and current Belmont resident Rose Whitmore has received the prestigious William Peden Prize, which recognizes the best piece of fiction published in The Missouri Review during the previous volume year.

Whitmore will receive a check for $1,000 and will read at the annual Peden Prize reception in Columbia, Missouri. “It’s such an honor to be recognized with this prize,” she said. Whitmore’s writing has appeared in Mason’s Road, Fourth Genre and the 2013 California Prose Directory, an anthology about the state of California. She has work forthcoming in the Mid-American Review and The Sun.

Whitmore’s Peden Prize-winning story is about a little girl who grows up in a cannery in Eureka. It is titled, The Queen of Pacific Tides. “I grew up commercially fishing smelt, a world that is both beautiful and imbued with the guts and sand and cold,” Whitmore said.

“There are many stories about young girls on the precipice of adolescence, digging in their heels against change, but ‘The Queen of Pacific Tides’ manages to surprise on every level,” says contest judge Tina May Hall. “The story is a gorgeous story all around and is one of those that will stay with you, will sneak into your dreams and perfume them in strange and wonderful ways.”

Whitmore’s path towards becoming an award-winning fiction writer began at Cañada after a pilgrimage across Spain in 2009. “I came home and decided I would take a step towards becoming a writer, something I always wanted to be – something the pilgrimage inspired me to act on.” She enrolled in a creative writing class taught by Professor Mike Nagler. “I loved Mike’s class, and somewhere about half way through I decided I wanted to pursue an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in creative writing. I used the two stories I wrote in his class for my application and was admitted to the University of New Hampshire that spring.”

The mere act of getting to Cañada and Nagler’s class was, at times, an adventure for Whitmore. Living in Berkeley and working in San Francisco, Whitmore would take MUNI to Caltrain, disembark at Redwood City, where she would jump on her scooter, which she parked at the train station, and ride up the hill to Cañada. “Round trip it took about an hour and a half,” she said. “I would leave my job in San Francisco, fleeing the fog and noise of the city just wanting to be in that class. I would arrive and the air would be warm, and the campus green, and everyone in my class very supportive. It was a great experience.”

Nagler said Whitmore was a valuable member of his class. “She offered enthusiastic critical analysis of her classmates’ efforts but she did it with great honesty that was gently and encouragingly given. Her insights helped the class to be better, and, for that, as well as her gifts as a writer, I valued greatly her membership in it.”

Nagler said Whitmore is a terrific example of the diverse student body served at community colleges. “She already had a degree when she decided to come back to school,” he said. “She was truly a lifelong learner.”

Whitmore grew up on the Peninsula and graduated from UC Berkeley. Her mother is a Cañada alum. “My childhood was filled with fishing and backpacking and trips to Baja,” she said. “I became a West Coast writer in a very North East place. I began to write about California and the Pacific, I always like to joke, to mentally escape the New England winter. But I do have New England to thank. The program at New Hampshire allowed me the freedom to see my version of the West Coast more clearly, to solidify my experiences and have space from them.”

After graduating from the University of New Hampshire in May, Whitmore moved back to the Peninsula. She is currently living in Belmont, working on a novel, a collection of short stories, and an essay collection. She is also a copywriter for a company in San Diego.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Working Adults Find Success at Cañada College

As school children return to classrooms across the Bay Area, a growing number of working adults are taking their seats at Cañada College thanks to a program aimed at simplifying the process of earning a college degree.

The College for Working Adults began in 2011 and only requires students to attend class one night a week and on Saturdays. Participants earn a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in Social and Behavioral Science and/or Humanities. It prepares students for a variety of careers related to education, law, social work, business, and politics. It’s funded by Measure G, the parcel tax passed by San Mateo County voters in 2010.

The program’s curriculum is set, classes are guaranteed, and students enter in a cohort with other working adults. That structure is exactly what Michael Piccoli of San Francisco was looking for when he enrolled in the program’s first cohort in 2011.

“The fact that the curriculum is pre-planned to help you obtain your associate’s degree is great,” said Piccoli, 42, who commutes daily to Palo Alto to work at the Stanford Neiman Marcus store. “There’s no thinking involved about what classes you need to take to fulfill your degree requirements.”

Stephanie Culberson
Twenty-seven students enrolled in the first cohort in 2011. That grew to 31 in 2012 but the program’s popularity exploded this fall, with 60 new students enrolled in the third cohort.

“The selling point for me was that I could work full-time and go to school because the professors were being hand-picked specifically for this program and they understood we were working adults with families and responsibilities,” said San Jose’s Sandra Floyd, a mother of four who works for the County of San Mateo. She was part of the first cohort in 2011 and enrolled after not having attended school for 22 years.

Floyd said it was a little nerve racking at the beginning but it became easier as she met classmates. “The cohort allows you to meet and bond with people you might have never had the opportunity to meet. I personally have made friendships with some of my classmates that will remain even after we move on from this program.”

She said the College for Working Adults has motivated her to pursue a bachelor’s degree and, ultimately, a master’s degree. “This program is amazing,” she said. “The professors understand how tired we are from working eight to 10 hours a day, but they make the material so exciting that you tend to forget the rest of your day.”

Menlo Park’s Stephanie Culberson, who works as an administrative associate in the Stanford University School of Business Marketing and Communications, said she watched as many of her coworkers were pursuing degrees. She enrolled in the program’s first cohort and is now on track to complete three associate degrees in May and will transfer to Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. “I plan on using my degree to leverage a Human Resources position at Stanford where I’ve worked for 12-and-a-half years.”

When he’s finished with the College for Working Adults, Piccoli will transfer to San Francisco State University and pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in marketing. “That’s the ultimate goal and it’s very doable for me now because I’ve been in school for a while,” he said. “I want to pursue a job or career in marketing, public relations, or as a creative director.”

David Johnson, Cañada’s Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, oversees the College for Working Adults. He said helping working adults earn their degree and transform their lives was the goal of the program. “We know it’s a struggle to work eight hours a day and then attend class at night,” he said. “We wanted to make the process as simple as possible.”

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