Posted by:
PHRatz
at Thu Jun 22 09:21:59 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by PHRatz ]
I got involved in 1999 after the woman who used to own a tiny business here called the Reptile Rodent Ranch invented this class called Reptiles & Rodents, she would take only 10 students and wouldn't take any under the 4th grade level. Then she got a divorce closed her business and moved away.
The local college has had this program they call a summer enrichment program for kids for over 20 years, the whole thing is called Kid's College. There are 80 to 100 or so classes offered from computer to sports to arts & crafts to cooking you name it, Reptiles & Rodents is just one of them. The director of KC wanted to make this class grow so now it requires 2 teachers, enrollment limit is 30 & our class always fills all the way up.
In 1997 or so they found themselves without a teacher for Reptiles & Rodents, they tried local school teachers, a pet store owner, nobody worked out.
By 1999 I had graduated from the vet-tech program a couple of years before & was recommened to the director of Kid's College by someone from the vet-tech program. I tried it, I was horrible at it the first time but they kept offering the job to me so I kept coming back & now that I have a fabulous co-teacher it's been a wonderful thing that I love doing.
I fell into this, literally just fell into it so I've stuck with it & this is my 8th year to teach it so I am not quite as horrible at it as I was the first time LOL.
I didn't know then but now I know that in the Kid's College program if a person wants to invent a class, they can submit plans to the director & they'll try offering that class if it's feasable. If the class "makes" then any body can teach a class for them. Meaning as long as enough kids are signed up anybody who can pass a background check can teach a class there.
Yes you should try it because I've been told that over the past 20 years colleges nationwide have contacted the director here to find out how to start a program like this for their own college. This type of program makes the colleges who do it a ton of money.
They do it for the money which is always the bottom line. 
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PHRatz
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RE: YES it was a great idea! - PHRatz, Thu Jun 22 09:21:59 2006
