By Rick Dandes
SUNBURY — College-level nursing courses may be held at Valley high schools this fall as part of an effort to create a Susquehanna Valley Community College, officials said Wednesday night.
A $57,000 higher education assistance grant will also fund college preparatory classes, all taught through existing universities, said Barbara Steinhurst, executive director of the Susquehanna Valley Community Education Council.
While class sites and course descriptions have not been determined, Steinhurst said this fall’s plan is an early step in getting Valley residents accustomed to the idea that additional educational opportunities are coming into the region.
“It’s a forerunner to establishing a Susquehanna Valley Community College in the near future,” she said during a project meeting Wednesday night.
About 3,000 feasibility studies will be distributed to Valley high school students and their parents to gauge interest in the program, said Stephen J. Connolley, of Lewisburg.
“We want to put this out before the end of the school year so that we can get back responses and analyze the results,” he said.
This study is required by the state to determine whether there is interest in establishing a community college.
“We also want to know whether people would attend locally,” Connolley said. “We want to know what their plans are in the future, whether they’d rather go to a private school, public school or community college.”
Project members discussed the goals and objectives of the upcoming public relations campaign.
“This is a tremendously large undertaking, starting up a community college,” said Karl Girton, of Millville, a former member of the state Board of Education. “Over the next few months, if we really want to make this work, we have to expand the number of people involved in the project. We have to involve county commissioners, school district superintendents and business leaders — all stakeholders in this ambitious undertaking.”
The goal, Girton said, is convey to the public and business sector that “we will be not just graduating students, but non-traditional students. People who have lost their jobs and require re-training. We want people to tell their elected representatives to support this community college with a portion of their budget. After all, we’re creating jobs.”
