Garden City Career Connection Academy
Purpose
The Garden City Career Connection Academy (GCCCA), located in the lower level of the Student And Community Services Center, exists to provide innovative opportunities that promote and help participants to successfully meet their educational and life goals, extending the resources of the college to nontraditional students in the community and college service area. Students deserve developmental options including English Language Acquisition (ELA), Adult Basic Education/General Educational Development (ABE/GED), Transition to Post-Secondary Ed., Employability Skills, Family Literacy and Digital Literacy opportunities. The GCCCA is a key resource for enriching the quality of life, promoting economic development, and strengthening the future of our communities. The GCCCA provides convenient and nontraditional instructional delivery systems which adapt to the schedules of working adults.
Locations
The GCCCA offers classes in the Student And Community Services Center (620-276-7600), the Garden City Career Connection Academy (620-276-9675) and the East Garden Village campus (620-276-7600)
Programs
Adult Basic Education
The Adult Basic Education program is provided in conjunction with the Kansas Board of Regents. Instruction is designed to assist adults who lack their high school diploma. Those who have not completed their high school education or who desire improvement of basic skills may enroll at no cost. Basic math and reading classes are offered. GED classes and tutoring are provided in English and Spanish, mornings and evenings. The (ABE) Program is a highly structured, research-based program designed to build twenty-first-century skills that enable students to successfully transition to postsecondary education and/or the workplace.
General Education Development (GED)
GED is also known as a high school equivalency diploma. The GED credential certifies that individuals have the knowledge and skills equivalent to that of a high school graduate. Upon successful completion of the GED test, the Kansas Board of Regents issues a Kansas State High School Equivalency diploma. The GCCCA provides preparation classes to pass the GED exam and enable students to successfully transition to postsecondary education and/or the workplace.
The GCCC is an official testing center of the General Education Development test. These tests are administered by an authorized examiner in the Mary Jo Williams Assessment Center located in Student and Community Services Center on designated test dates or by appointment. GED tests are offered in English and Spanish. For more information contact the Assessment Center at 276-9654. This diploma is widely accepted by employers and institutions of higher education in lieu of a high school diploma.
English Language Acquisition Classes (ELA)
The (ELA) program helps students build the foundation to further their education. Classes are offered on a variety of schedules to accommodate GCCCA participants. Students are placed in courses specific to their language level to prepare them to move on to contextualize Career Technical Education (CTE) courses.
In addition to our traditional ELA classes, the GCCCA is always evaluating new and innovated models for teaching English. In Addition, the GCCCA introduce an online curriculum and blended instruction with “Burlington English” for listening, speaking, grammar and career pathways vocabulary for an immediate integration into a job.
ELA classes are offered at all sites.
Accelerating Opportunities
Accelerating Opportunities program is a different approach to teaching students who need help with foundational skills by mixing Career Technical Education (CTE) training with additional support for math, writing, and reading inside and outside the classroom. This student-first approach gives participants the skills they need to succeed in school and compete in the workforce by working on technical and foundational education while also providing support services to students through a ABE instructors and a career coach.
Migrant Kansas High School Diploma
The (HEP) program helps migratory and seasonal farmworkers (or children of such workers) who are 16 years of age or older and not currently enrolled in school to obtain the equivalent of a high school diploma and, subsequently, to gain employment or begin postsecondary education or training. Make it easier for students who need extra help to complete their education.
Plaza Comunitaria Program
Plaza Comunitaria program offer the opportunity for youth and adults to have literacy courses and to start or continue their elementary, middle and high school education in Spanish. All students attend ELA classes. Every student who completes his or her education under this program obtains a certificate provided by the Mexican Ministry of Education and is prepared to continue and successfully pass the GED in Spanish and, if the student has a good level of English, to present it in this language and transition to contextualize Career and Technical Education courses. Furthermore, many studies show how students can learn English faster and more efficiently if they have a solid education in their own language.
Citizenship Program
Citizenship classes help the students prepare for the naturalization process. Classes are offered once a week in combination with ELA classes. The prepareation for the US citizenship test is based on specific subject areas such as Integrated Civics, History and Government.
Outreach Opportunities
GCCC offers college credit courses at nine communities within the College service area. GCCC also provides concurrent and dual-credit courses, taught at the area high schools. Courses are offered to help students complete requirements for a degree or to give students the opportunity to improve their skills for better occupational opportunities. The College strives to offer a high level of learning in these centers, equivalent to that on campus. Course offerings are developed primarily by student requests to meet needs for a particular semester.
Most classes are taught by local community instructors who have met standards set forth by the College. Testing, advising and other services are provided at these sites to help students take the courses that will assure them the opportunity to succeed. Coordinators, who live in the communities, are employed by the College to assist students in planning courses that are most beneficial.
Outreach centers are located at Deerfield, Dighton, Healy, Holcomb, Lakin, Leoti, Scott City, Syracuse and Tribune. Students may call the GCCC Outreach Program at 620-276- 9550 to request class information and to obtain names and local phone numbers of community coordinators.
In the future the College plans to offer mediated courses using Internet, email, chat rooms, and other technologies which will make the outreach program even more responsive to the individual needs of time and place bound students who cannot access on-campus programs.
Continuing Education
Gain a competitive edge at GCCC’s Continuing Education, the regional destination for career and professional development, trade-specific continuing education hours, customized business solutions, and personal enrichment opportunities.
Continuing Education mirrors the institution’s mission of producing positive contributors to the economic and social well-being of society, accomplishing this by providing innovative services directed toward individual and workforce development.
Focusing on client satisfaction, Continuing Education provides quality training solutions in a way that is convenient, timely, and desirable to the customer by responding to an ever-evolving business environment. Continuing Education offers short-term classes and workshops packed with information, techniques and tools that can make organizations more effective. Hands-on instruction enables participants to learn new skills one day and put those skills to use the next.
Also to help businesses remain competitive, Continuing Education will develop and deliver customized training to business and industry in the areas of management, supervision, leadership, career skills, safety, allied health, computer technology, industrial training and more. Customized training sessions are flexible and can be conveniently scheduled for full-day, half-day, evening or weekend delivery, and held at client locations or GCCC facilities.
Whether your lifelong learning goals are professional or personal, GCCC Continuing Education is ready to serve you! For more information contact the Dean of Technical Education & Workforce Development at 620-276-9521.
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