After a last-minute reprieve that averted a shutdown last year, the Langley-based Fraser Valley Continuing Education (FVCE) program has a new home and a new direction.
“We are full steam ahead,” FVCE registrar Barb Nelson told the Langley Advance Times.
“We’re looking forward to 2020.”
Nelson, an instructor at the programs, along with her sister-in-law, tech and marketing manager Peggy Richardson, and cousin Alison Dennis came to the rescue last year.
Jim Verkerk, who ran the program, was retiring.
After a failed attempt at negotiating a deal with one of the other instructors to continue operating, Verkerk announced the program would be shutting down at the end of June.
That’s when Nelson, Richardso0n and Dennis intervened.
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Since they took over, the program has moved from it’s former home in the Langley Township Civic Facility into a new space in Langley City, at Baytree Centre, located at Logan and 56th Avenues.
After initially operating from ground-floor digs, they have expanded into a second-floor space to to increase the size of the computer lab, and create two extra classrooms.
“We can’t believe how high the demand is,” Nelson commented.
The catalogue for the Fraser Valley Continuing Education winter/spring 2020 semester was distributed n the first week of January to homes in Langley and the surrounding areas.
New courses include include a range of small business classes focused on marketing and tech, and classes taught by well-known Angela Crocker, author of “Digital Life Skills for Youth”, including a workshop about teens and technology.
Richardson, the FVCE marketing manager described it as an impressive course.
“As a parent of a teenager myself, I’ve been so impressed by Angela’s book, and she doesn’t hold back when she talks about how teens may be asked to use technology inappropriately, and exactly what parents can do about it,” Richardson said.
Crocker’s workshop on that topic will be offered once in February, once in April, and once again in May.
The January to May 2020 calendar at FVCE offers a variety of programs in high-employability areas, including bookkeeping and accounting, dental receptionist, and a selection of workshops related to small business and living in the digital age.
As well, many of the same programs the program has always provided are back, such as Microsoft-certified training and basic computer skills, as well as a wide range of art and language classes.
There is a new program for medical office assistants, that marks a return of the curriculum after several year, said office manager Kim Rosset, the one responsible for programming this entire new semester of classes.
“We had a successful MOA program for years when we were Langley Continuing Education, and after a bit of a hiatus, Patti Scott and co-instructor Marilyn Lawrie have returned to give us not just the basics, but an Allied MOA program as well,” Rosset said.
“Allied” means everything from chiropractic care, massage therapy, counselling and psychotherapy services, help with addictions, kinesiology and physiotherapy, and more, Rosset explained.
“Ours is the only program in the Lower Mainland to offer training in this specific area,” she said.
FVCE has also introduced a freshened-up website at fraservalleycontinuingeducation.ca and are active on social media, including Instagram, Twitter, and at Facebook.com/FraserValleyContinuingEducation.
dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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