BY ANNA HERKAMP
DANVILLE — The audience gathered in Danville Area Community College’s Bremer Conference and Workforce Development Center Thursday has just two years left before their kids’ lives — and theirs — change.
The audience members, all parents of Vermilion County high school sophomores, have one big concern on their minds as they begin thinking of their kids’ college years: how they will finance their children’s post secondary education.
DACC’s “Careers, Candle Light and College” program which included a lasagna dinner, provided the parents with some information about economic options available at DACC.
Parents learned about dual credit College Express programs, associate’s degrees and credit transfer programs.
Kim Kuchenbrod, workforce development specialist with Vermilion Advantage, talked about the county’s Workforce Cluster incentives program.
The clusters, made up of the county’s major industries, fund a program called the Career Support Initiative scholarship program that aims to get local students into the areas most difficult-to-fill jobs.
College students or high school seniors who plan to attend a four-year university who are interested in accounting, computer network engineering, engineering, manufacturing technology, pharmacy or physical therapy can apply for the program.
In additional to guaranteed employment in the county, the program provides paid summer internships in their fields.
DACC officials also discussed high-paying two-year programs offered at the college, like the wind turbine technician program and the high school Project Lead the Way pre-engineering program.
A panel of area women, Latana Lillard, a Danville police officer, Amanda Rice, an electrician, and AnnMarie Cross and Brenda Heskett of Time-O-Matic, shared their experiences of being in fields where there are fewer female employees.
The families — who attended the dinner without their children — said they learned a few things Thursday evening.
Suzy Smalley is the mother of freshman and sophomore daughters at Bismarck-Henning High School. She’s eager to learn about as many affordable college options as possible.
“I was not aware there were so many technical courses,” she said of the DACC programs.
Her kids may gravitate toward other fields, but she’s glad the choices are there.
She doesn’t want her income or other financial issues to limit what her daughters can achieve, she said.
So far, it looks like attending DACC for two years before transferring to a four-year program is a good choice for her kids, Smalley said.
Daphne Young and Mario Dickson’s daughter, who attends Danville High School, wants to be a doctor.
Young and Dickson liked the credit transfer programs, as well as the dual credits she can earn while she’s in high school.
College, although only two years away, still seems like a long way off.
Young said she doesn’t want to push college or planning for the future too much at this point.
Keeping her focused on school is one of the things they’re most concerned about right now, said Dickson.
“We keep her grounded,” he added.
They joke that given the choice, their daughter would head off to an out-of-state school now.
“She’s ready now,” Dickson said. “She’s fired up about it and that’s a beautiful thing.”
Praxedis and Rosa Alvarez’s son attends Schlarman High School.
Although his career goals center on professional sports for now — soccer or basketball in particular — his mom and dad were interested in DACC’s programs, which they say have expanded over time.
Praxedis went to DACC almost 20 years ago to take English as a Second Language classes, but the college has changed quite a bit since then, he said.
The Alvarezes say the economy may help determine where their son attends school, if sports scholarships aren’t a factor.
DACC could be a good place for him to start, they said, no matter where he ends up.
“We always tell him, education is first,” Rosa said.
