College for Working Adults - Earn a Degree - Don't Quit Your Job! Classes Guaranteed.

Cañada College has expanded its current College for Working Adults program to allow students with up to 15 units of GE courses to transfer into one of our three cohorts. You may be able to graduate in less than three years while attending classes on Thursday nights and every other Saturday. Whether you are a new student or current student, contact our Project Coordinator, Jeri Eznekier (650 306-3304) to see which cohort is a good fit for you.

Students participating in the Cañada College for Working Adults will receive up to three Associate of Arts degrees in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in Social and Behavioral Science and/or Humanities or an Associate of Arts degree in Psychology. It prepares students for a variety of careers related to education, law, social work, business, and politics.

All 60 general education credits earned in this program are transferrable to public and private colleges and universities. Students will follow a predetermined plan of classes, eliminating guesswork about degree and transfer requirements.

The third cohort of 35 students will begin Fall 2012. Students enrolled in this College for Working Adults "learning community" will start and complete the program with the same group of students. This provides students a deeper understanding of the courses' subject matter while they build relationships and learn together inside and outside of the classroom. Many of our classes are also integrated to help link and reinforce learning.

Students will receive priority enrollment in College for Working Adult classes...NO WAITLISTS...EVER! They'll receive one-on-one academic advising/counseling from our designated CWA counselor to ensure they get started on the right track and stay on track throughout the program.

Students have been asking for such a program because they can't quit their jobs to attend school during the day and they can't take classes two or three nights a week because of family commitments.

To enroll in the College for Working Adults program, go to our website at http://canadacollege.net/CWA. Click the APPLY tab and complete the online application. If you have questions or need more information about the program, email canadacwa@smccd.edu or call Jeri at (650) 306-3304.

The program is funded through Measure G, the parcel tax passed by San Mateo County voters in 2010.

Lisa Torres fulfills dream of studying mechanical engineering at Cal

Following her graduation from Sequoia High School, Lisa Torres learned that she had not been accepted to her first two college choices – UC Berkeley and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. But after spending three years studying mechanical engineering at Cañada College, the San Carlos resident learned she will be accepted to Cal this fall.

“Community college can really make a difference and if you are an engineering, math, or science major, Cañada is the place to study,” said Torres. “The school was instrumental in helping me get admitted to Berkeley. I was also admitted to Cal Poly so Cañada gave me a second chance to attend my top two universities that I didn’t get into after high school.”

Torres was an excellent high school student who excelled in math and science classes and was accepted to UC Santa Cruz, CSU Northridge and San Diego State. Unfortunately, her parents could not afford to help pay her tuition and the cost to leave the area to attend college was prohibitive.

That’s when she heard Cañada College Professor Amelito Enriquez speak in one of her high school classes about the opportunities for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) students at community colleges. “As soon as I heard Dr. E speak, I knew Cañada was a good fit for me. I attended the Summer Engineering Institute at San Francisco State University through Cañada and I received a scholarship. That made it even easier to decide to attend Cañada.”

Torres said the atmosphere at Cañada is centered on learning which has helped her succeed academically. “Students here have amazing access to the Learning Center, library, tutoring and their professors. They are given the tools to succeed both in and out of the classroom and they want to transfer to good universities. That culture is motivating.”

As an active member of the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) clubs at Cañada, Torres has attended national conferences. “All of my conference costs were paid for and I was exposed to opportunities I couldn’t get in a classroom,” she said.

As a member of Cañada’s MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science, Achievement) Program, Torres was eligible for conference reimbursement. MESA Coordinator Cathy Lipe called Torres a model student. “She has always been a joy to be around and she really loves learning,” Lipe said. “Lisa truly represents the type of student we have in MESA at Cañada.”

Her exposure to academic subjects outside of math, science, and engineering helped Torres determine her future career goal. “When I came to Cañada, computer engineering was my first love,” she said. “But then I took a history course from Professor (Michael) Stanford and he talked about the modernization of the Western World and the use of natural resources, especially coal, and how it hurt the environment. I wrote a research paper on the topic and it angered me and that’s when I decided to switch my major to mechanical engineering and focus on renewable energy. We can capture so much clean energy from other sources, especially the sun.”