Beginning in fall 2017, a residential based academic program called ‘Gateway to the AA and Beyond’ will be available to students. The program will create a specific academic cohort built around common classes and themes in a living-learning community in the KRC Residence Hall. The initial cohort will be up to 16 students who are admitted to the KPC associate of arts program. They will live in a quad of four suites (four private bedrooms per suite) in the Residence Hall allowing the students to focus collectively on their academic programs.

The program will bring the Gateway students together in common classes, some delivered at the Residence Hall. There’s a myriad of potential benefits for students in the cohort including dedicated advising to assist with major exploration, study skills development, specialized activities and programs to help students understand their strengths and challenges, as well as assistance with financial aid and identifying scholarships. Students will also be mentored to effectively plan and prepare for successful articulation into bachelor degree programs.

The Gateway program’s first-year students will live in the Residence Hall and take at least two classes with their cohort. Second-year students will be encouraged to remain on campus to help form natural mentorships and study groups with new students.

Similar programs around the country tout important benefits including better academic performance, increased intellectual development and smoother transition for first-year students into college life. The intent of the program is to increase student retention, student satisfaction and engagement, and to provide for stronger faculty/student mentorship relationships. It is hoped to facilitate greater ease in the high school to college transition that continues on into the second year and through to graduation.

KPC expands free English as a Second Language program

The KRC Learning Center has offered ESL instruction for many years. The free instruction is offered to non-native speakers of English to become more fluent and proficient in the English language.

The new ESL instructor in the Learning Center, Bridget Clark, is excited to announce that she has revamped the program to include a wider variety of course options to diversify instruction from basic English to more advanced offerings.

“In addition to the traditional ESL course format, I am offering students classes in reading, academic vocabulary, citizenship, U.S. history and current events to further enhance their language proficiency so they can pursue college and career opportunities,” Clark said.

Classes are offered daily, Monday through Thursday, at the KRC Learning Center in Brockel Building room 191. All classes are free and students can enroll at any time. For more information or to sign up, stop by the Learning Center or call 262-0327.

KPC Showcase An evening with adventurer Dick Griffith

The popular, continuing humanities-based series, the KPC Showcase, will be hosting Dick Griffith and Biographer Kaylene Johnson at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10 in the KRC McLane commons. The program is funded in part by a generous grant from the Anna Fossett Goodrich Program of the Damon Memorial Fund.

The public is invited to the free presentation that will feature Griffith describing many of his solo wilderness adventures including occasionally death-defying moments while rafting down the Green and Colorado Rivers, skiing across the Northwest Passage, and being the first non-native to drop into the treacherous Barranca Del Cobre in Mexico. Johnson, the author of “Canyons and Ice: The Wilderness Travels of Dick Griffith,” published by Ember Press, will be on hand to talk about the biography.

For more information about this event, or to propose other KPC Showcase ideas, contact Coordinator Dave Atcheson at 262-0346.

This column is provided by Suzie Kendrick, Advancement Programs Manager at Kenai Peninsula College.