Education for everyone
Salida residents looking to build their resume, improve their health or just pursue a new skill can now do so without leaving town.
The City of Salida has partnered with Colorado Mountain College (CMC) to offer several non-credit community education classes, including mixed media art, guitar, avalanche awareness and more. The classes opened up to the community last fall, with more being offered this spring.
The Salida community is taking advantage of the local education—many of the classes have been full. With such strong community interest, the school is already looking into expanding options.
"We will always do everything we can to be responsive to community needs, and if there is a desire for a class in a specific subject area with sufficient community interest, then we would love to try and find someone qualified to teach for CMC," stated Rob Simpson, Associate Dean of Academics and Student Affairs. "We'll continue to dream about new classes that we can offer that we think will have strong interest from our amazing little mountain community."
CMC opened its Salida campus last year and has already become an important City partner and community hub with various educational opportunities and programs.
Salida CMC students can enroll in certificate, associate, and bachelor-level classes for degree programs in nursing, early childhood education, business administration, and more. In addition to these degree programs, the Salida campus is now offering concurrent enrollment courses for local high school students.
Concurrent enrollment is a program that allows high school students to earn college or vocational credit towards a post-secondary diploma, certificate, or degree. Students are enrolled in a college class and also receive credit towards their high school diploma. Salida High School and Horizons Exploratory Academy students will also have access to classes to explore specific career pathways, like healthcare.
Concurrent enrollment provides significant benefits for Salida students and their families:
- Tuition savings (concurrent enrollment classes are free for the student).
- Increased likelihood of enrolling in college after high school.
- Higher first-year retention rates in post-secondary education.
- A head start on college credit and the college experience.
For more information on CMC Salida or to register for the community classes or concurrent enrollment, visit coloradomtn.edu/campuses/salida.
