On Monday, June 27th, 2016, Dr. Jim Riggs visited Glenmont Job Corps Center to speak our Grad-90 students about their futures and attending college. Dr. Riggs has an extensive background in community college leadership and instruction. He currently serves as Professor of Community College Education at California State University, Stanislaus, CA. There he teaches in the University’s Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership.
Dr. Riggs was introduced by, CTR Instructor, Ms. Taber. Students greeted him warmly with a round of applause. Dr. Riggs shared that his first job after high school was as an apple picker. He then attended college majoring in music but later set his sights on becoming a college teacher and administrator. He told the Grad 90 students “You can do anything you want if you set your mind to it.”
He posed the question, “Why go to a community college?”, then shared the facts: “Every degree that you get increases your income by 50%. Also, 85% of all newly cre-ated jobs require a college degree”. He highlighted that community colleges offer many choices for majors and encouraged college bound students to brush up on their writing and math skills in order to be prepared for placement tests, to apply for Financial Aid as early as possible and to enroll early for priority registration. He highlighted that many community colleges now have services geared toward first generation college students.
Dr. Riggs then interacted one on one with those students that are interested in attending college asking them what college they were interested in and what they intended on studying. He then opened the floor to question from our Grad 90 students. There were quite a few questions including: “What skills are needed to succeed in college”? Dr. Riggs answer was that college students need to be self-disciplined, in that they need to set aside time each day to study. Other question were about pursuing a double major, and taking classes on line.
A few students spoke to Dr. Riggs after the presentation with specific questions which he took the time to answer. We that GJCC Chef, Andy Riggs for suggesting his dad come to speak with our students, Center Director, Ms. Snape for her approval, and CTR instructor Ms. Taber for arranging for her students to attend. Most sincere thanks go out to Dr. Riggs for taking time out of his visit to NY to visit GJCC and encouraging our Grad 90 students to pursue furthering their education