There are lots of exciting things happening at the graduate level at St. John Fisher College in Rochester.

 

Phillips Hairstyling Institute is celebrating its 29th year in business and is the only private national accredited beauty school within a 70-mile radius of Syracuse. “At one time there were five private beauty schools in Syracuse,” explains Steven C. Phillips, owner and director. “For the past 10 years we have been the only one.” Phillips graduated from the school he now owns at 709 E. Genesee St. and is proud of the quality of graduates the school has produced since his purchase in 1981.

In today’s challenging economic climate, where more people are seeking fewer jobs, you need every advantage you can get to make certain that you stand out in the eyes of employers. One career strategy that can help distinguish you from your competition is to make sure you have the specific skills and training employers want.

  If you look inside a classroom at your local community college, you might be surprised to see recent high school graduates sitting alongside people who may not have been in a classroom setting in a while. Many have been in the workforce for several years and are now looking to upgrade their skills or prepare for a career change. Some are veterans who have recently returned from the service or stay-at-home parents ready to pick up where they left off years ago. And many are returning to college to finish a degree—or even complete a second or third.

For many adults, complicated schedules are a fact of life. In an ever-changing world, more adult students are returning to the classroom to update or enhance their skills, open a gateway to a new career or pursue the pleasure of lifelong learning.

In Webster's dictionary the first definition of “oasis” is “a fertile place in the desert, due to the presence of water” and the second definition is “anyplace or thing offering welcome relief from difficulty, dullness, etc.”  For OASIS, sponsored by University Hospital and Macy’s and located in Shoppingtown Mall in DeWitt, the second definition is more than appropriate; it is a mission.

If so, your job or military skills could fast-track you toward a college degree

By Jessica Skeldon

If you think you’re starting from a blank slate when you decide to go back to school, think again. Turns out all those years spent teaching, running a business or being in the Army can give you a head start on the road to a degree. 

Two area colleges help turn your experience into cold, hard college credits. Empire State College’s Central New York center, located in the Telergy Building off Carrier Circle at 6333 Route 298, East Syracuse (472-5730), specializes in adult education and allows maximum flexibility when it comes to earning class credits. Columbia College at Hancock Field, 6001 E. Molloy Road, Mattydale (455-0690), focuses more on providing an education for men and women in the military. Both offer adults credit for prior learning, a way to get credit for education attained outside the traditional classroom.

Crouse Hospital School of Nursing has been recognized for more than 90 years for its leadership in anticipating changing needs in health care. Our state-of-the-art teaching environment, unparalleled clinical opportunities, innovative program design, affordable tuition and commitment to the success of each student set us apart from other associate degree nursing programs in upstate New York.

Le Moyne College’s Center for Continuing Education allows adults in Central New York to enrich both their lives and their community through undergraduate evening degree programs, certificate programs and credit courses. Evening degrees are offered in business administration, information systems, nursing, sociology, psychology and English. For those who would like to enhance their professional qualifications or acquire new skills, evening certificates are available in human resource management and information technology, in addition to New York state teacher certification. Le Moyne has also formed a partnership with the Diocese of Syracuse to establish a certificate program in pastoral ministry, which debuts this fall.Le Moyne, 1419 Salt Springs Road, also recognizes that some people want a new challenge and opt to change careers. To that end, the college offers evening science courses for individuals interested in the health care field.

We’ve all heard the familiar adage that an important consideration in most transactions is location, location, location. At Onondaga Community College, our adult students have told us that what they look for when choosing a college is convenience. If it isn’t convenient, it just won’t work. But convenience means more than just having a good location. It has to fit in with your already busy life. That means the time has to be right, too. To ease the transition back to college for working adults, OCC, 4585 W. Seneca Turnpike, offers full degree programs and hundreds of courses online and in the evening at locations throughout Central New York.