Southwest Colorado Community College’s summer kickoff event had all the trappings of a typical end-of-school celebration, but for the community college in Durango, it was a standout moment.
The event, complete with rock band music, pie-throwing contests and hot dog grilling, was the first one organized by the college’s newly-formed student advisory board.
The first of its kind at the college, the group aims to increase student engagement at the school where dorm life is nonexistent and most students take classes in addition to working or raising families.
“The idea behind it was to get students more involved in the school, give something back to them and show them the school does care and supports them,” said SWCCC student Thomas Haderthauer, the advisory board’s president.
The group is the most recent example of the college’s growth and development during the last several years that has included a merger with San Juan Basin Technical College and steadily increasing enrollment numbers.
“We’re growing, and we’re becoming a bigger presence here,” said Lynn Urban, the college’s dean.
Enrollment at Southwest Colorado Community College, which is a satellite of Pueblo Community College, has grown 76 percent since the spring of 2008. Enrollment at Pueblo Community College as a whole has increased 44 percent during that time.
After turning students away in the summer and fall of 2010 because of a lack of space, the college has started offering classes at other locations, such as Durango High School and Pagosa Mountain Hospital. It also is looking for other locations to offer more classes, Urban said.
Part of the growth stemmed from the college’s merger with the technical college east of Cortez in July 2009. The move allowed SWCCC to offer more career and technical programs like radiologic technology and cosmetology, which have become very popular programs, Urban said.
The economy also has played a role in many students’ decisions to come back to school. When people are unable to find employment, they often come back to school to further their career and learn something new, Urban said. For many people, tuition at a community college is a more affordable option, she said.
The advisory board is one more way to improve the college and give students a way to feel represented at the school, Urban said.
The group’s main responsibilities will be to plan events and activities for students and to serve as a liaison between students and administrators when it comes time to make decisions about the school.
Urban said she hopes this group will inspire other student groups to start at the college to create more of a campus feel.
“We don’t have dorm life, so we need different creative ways to help people feel involved,” she said.
Mary Mann, the group’s treasurer, said the group is also a way for students to be proactive.
“We’re trying to make a student government here because there are some things we want to change about it,” Mann said.
The first item on her list for the college’s location in The Commons building is to create more parking, she said.
