OCCUPATIONAL TRAINING, TECHNOLOGICAL SAVVY, LANGUAGE FLUENCY SIMI VALLEY ADULT SCHOOL OFFERS NEW SKILLS, NEW STARTS.Byline: ERIC LEACH Staff Writer SIMI VALLEY Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. -- Faced with educating people for changing job markets in the modern world, the Simi Valley Adult School has come a long way since it was founded 70 years ago in what was then a small farming town. In 1936, high school Principal C.H. Pollock saw the need to provide more educational opportunities for adults and set up forums featuring lectures by professors from Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, colleges. The school eventually offered Simi Valley adults a chance to obtain diplomas in their time off from farm jobs, and during World War II some students were able to attend classes while also working in defense plants. The school even set up a cannery to preserve foods for the war effort. ``A lot of young men and women left school to do their patriotic duty,'' said Jeanette O'Brien, a spokeswoman for the school. ``When they returned home they wanted to continue their educations, and the adult school enabled them get high school diplomas A high school diploma is a diploma awarded for the completion of high school. In the United States and Canada, it is considered the minimum education required for government jobs and higher education. An equivalent is the GED. and job training.'' Pollock served as the adult school principal for 28 years, Simi Valley historian Pat Havens said. ``He was very active in the community and aware of what was needed,'' said Havens, who wound up teaching Simi Valley history at the school for 30 years. ``He knew every family and he was way ahead of his time.'' It was in the 1960s under the leadership of Director Will Hopp that the school developed its current focus on vocational training. ``He really was a visionary 1. visionary - One who hacks vision, in the sense of an Artificial Intelligence researcher working on the problem of getting computers to "see" things using TV cameras. (There isn't any problem in sending information from a TV camera to a computer. in developing the adult education program we have today,'' said Sondra Jones, who worked at the school for 29 years, became director after Hopp and retired in 2004. As the population has aged and become more diverse through immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. , the educational efforts have turned to medical training, English as a second language, computer courses and recreational classes for senior citizens. Students come from other cities, even other states, to attend the school's medical and dental training programs, which include about 800 students each year. These programs are filled months in advance and usually involve work-experience partnerships with hospitals and other professional medical facilities in Ventura and Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. counties. In the medical field, there are classes for vocational nurses, respiratory therapists, surgical technologists, electrocardiography electrocardiography (ĭlĕk'trōkärdēŏg`rəfē), science of recording and interpreting the electrical activity that precedes and is a measure of the action of heart muscles. technicians and physical therapy and chiropractic chiropractic (kīrəprăk`tĭk) [Gr.,=doing by hand], medical practice based on the theory that all disease results from a disruption of the functions of the nerves. assistants, among others. ``The administration of the adult education program believes strongly in occupational training in the medical programs,'' Jones said. ``We do everything we can to make them cost- effective and viable. There are really good careers in those areas.'' The current principal, Marirose Kozak, said the needs of modern society are constantly bringing changes to the school. Decades ago, the school offered classes in office skills like shorthand shorthand, any brief, rapid system of writing that may be used in transcribing, or recording, the spoken word. Such systems, many having characters based on the letters of the alphabet, were used in ancient times; the shorthand of Tiro, Cicero's amanuensis, was used . Then, as demographics The attributes of people in a particular geographic area. Used for marketing purposes, population, ethnic origins, religion, spoken language, income and age range are examples of demographic data. shifted, it began offering English as a second language, which now is one of the school's biggest programs, running day and night with nearly 5,000 students each year, including immigrants from Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. , Asia and Europe. But the advances in computer technology have presented major challenges to the school, including the costs of upgrading equipment constantly to keep up with technological advances. ``It's costs hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to keep our computers updated,'' said Kozak, who has been adult school principal for two years and has worked there since 1978, first as a biology teacher and then as assistant principal. ``When I first came here there were about 5,000 students. We're now at about 11,000.'' Kozak said she has seen more and more adults in recent years coming back to school for career training, and she estimated as many as 60 percent of them are middle-aged women. ``People are coming for their first career or they want to start a whole new career,'' she said. ``People need to keep up with technology, and there are more and more women entering the work force.'' She said she has also seen recent changes in the interests of senior citizen students. ``When we started our senior program they were all artsy-craftsy,'' she said. ``Now they all want advanced computer classes. They also want language classes, particularly Spanish. The baby boomers See generation X. seem to want to continue improving themselves.'' Vocational training graduates from the adult school, one Ventura County's largest, have a job placement rate of 70 percent or more in some programs. There are courses in computer technology, computer repair, cabling for local area networks, computer graphics and Web design. A course to train cable installers lasts eight weeks and can lead to jobs at between $23,000 to $31,000 a year for entry-level technicians, instructor David Richards David Richards may refer to:
``When employers look for employee candidates, applicants who have job training jump right over others without experience,'' he said. The school also offers classes to train welders, machine shop workers and upholsterers. There are classes for security guards and other jobs related to homeland security Noun 1. Homeland Security - the federal department that administers all matters relating to homeland security Department of Homeland Security executive department - a federal department in the executive branch of the government of the United States . In the real estate business there are classes for agents, brokers, home inspectors and appraisers. ``We're very proud of the adult school,'' said Kathryn Scroggin scroggin Noun NZ a mixture of nuts and dried fruits , superintendent of the Simi Valley Unified School District A unified school district is a school district which includes both primary school (kindergarten through middle school or junior high) and high school (grades 9-12). In Illinois, these districts are called unit school districts. . ``The thing that is probably most significant is they keep current with the trends and needs within our community and the communities that surround us. They continually con·tin·u·al adj. 1. Recurring regularly or frequently: the continual need to pay the mortgage. 2. add new programs based on the jobs that are available in our area, so that people can receive the kind of training they need to enter those types of careers.'' eric.leach(at)dailynews.com (805) 583-7602 CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color) A metal rose, above, was made by metal shop student Rick Gatling at Simi Valley Adult School. At right, metal shop instructor Tony Marsden, left, works with student Ray Pichette at Simi Valley Adult School. As the population has aged and become more diverse, offerings include medical training, English as a second language, computer courses and more. (3) Rick Gatling, showing off the gate that he constructed in class, is a metal shop student at Simi Valley Adult School. The Simi Valley Adult School has come a long way since it was founded 70 years ago in what was then a small farming town. It was in the 1960s under the leadership of Director Will Hopp that the school developed its current focus on vocational training. (4) Jose Camarena is a machine shop student at Simi Valley Adult School. Here Camarena works on a mill while Marirose Kozak, principal, and Mel Vines, assistant principal, look on. John McCoy/Staff Photographer |
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