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Continuing education grows

Gina Barker, The Park Record

Another year, another brand new issue of the quarterly-released community education course list: The Compass. The new issue spans January through April, offering several new classes to the community as a part of the Park City School District continuing Education program.

Enrollment in courses keeps rolling in, with several courses already full and additional courses being offered to compensate. The Continuing Education Program is more popular than ever, doubling in student enrollment numbers in the past five years. From 1,525 registrations in 2005 to 3,083 registrations in the 2012 Fall period, the program is continuing to grow its course list available to community members.

Among new classes this year, Leisure Learning Coordinator Jane Toly added new classes that include how to get the most out of an iPad, how to become a ski instructor, baking sourdough breads, making your own organic baby food and new take on children’s art classes. Each course ranges in audience, price and the number of meetings. Whether it is a culinary class that meets for a single session or a Pilates class that stretches 16 meetings over eight weeks, the offerings widely vary.

"We have more than doubled in size in the last seven years, which means we are doing something right," Tuly said. "I hire experts in their fields who are passionate about what they do. I think that is the reason for the success of the program. We are consistent, the teachers fantastic."

The ski instructor course was created through a partnership with the Canyons Resort, a first for the program. The course provides a way for locals to learn the ski instruction basics in a casual setting, and potentially be hired on as a part-time instructor at the resort. The course includes classroom instruction and two free lift tickets to the Canyons for the on snow instruction.

The "Creative Beast" course, a new offering to children from first through fifth grade, incorporates art projects with inventing, problem solving and storytelling.

"this is a new kind of art class where kids can create amazing art, invent and tell tales," Tuly said. "It incorporates progressive art projects where kids have to be creative in a way that is more than just an art class. They learn to see from multiple points of view, to express selves visually, physical and verbally."

Last year, the Continuing Education program added an online component for the community, with more than 300 courses available, from accounting and finance classes to personal development.

"We try to have a little bit of everything," Tuly said. "We offer language classes, fitness, culinary arts, computer workshops and social media information."

"You couldn’t go take a chakra class for $40 anywhere else," she added, "but you can through our program. The teachers are not doing it to make a bunch of money. They do it because they love teaching and they want to support community education."

For class date information or to register, visit http://www.pcschools.us and click on the Community section, then Compass/Leisure Learning or call Jane Toly at 435-615-0215.


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