Valley students pursue varied tracks at SRJC

Valley students pursue varied tracks at Santa Rosa Junior College|

SRJC facts at a glance

Approximately 55 percent of SVHS seniors enroll at SRJC after graduation. This number has held firm for almost a decade.

SRJC has 23,000 credit seeking students enrolled at any given time

In 2015, 1,000 students transferred to a 4-year college or university

4,800 students were awarded a degree or certificate

50 percent of the students at SRJC are 24 or under

The college is 54 percent female and 43 percent male

The school has two campuses, in Santa Rosa and in Petaluma

SRJC is the tenth oldest of the 112 California community colleges.

Full-time tuition is approximately $1200 per year.

Santa Rosa Junior College attracts students from within and outside the county, dozens from across the country and even a handful from other countries. Locally, many Sonoma Valley High School students find the junior college a natural choice for the next step in their education.

“Overall, I’ve had a great experience at the JC,” says Joseph Wilson, a part-time student working toward an information technology certificate. Wilson graduated from Sonoma Valley High in 2013. He doesn’t plan on transferring to a four-year university, as many junior college students do. Instead, he intends to use the credentials gained at the college to start a business.

Computers have been in Wilson’s life since his early teens – and since then he has had a knack for working with them.

“I don’t plan on working toward any further education,” he said. “I plan on starting my own home-to-home computer help and repair business and I want to get that going as soon as possible. Since I have the experience in the field and personal experience, too, I figured I just need some credibility and then I could start my own business. That’s why I went after a certificate.”

While many students at the JC are full-time, with classes as their priority, other students do not necessarily consider school their first concern. Wilson is one of these. He works full time and fits in classes when he can. He has also taken a few semesters off to care for family members.

Itzel Macedonia, SVHS class of 2014, has taken a different approach to education at SRJC. “I’ve been taking pre-nursing and pre-med classes,” she said. “I am planning to transfer to a private school. I want my bachelor of science in nursing, then to do pre-med afterward, or physician assistant training. My dream school is the University of Rochester in New York.”

When she finishes her education, Macedonia hopes to work for the United Nations and have her own clinic.

“I want to work for the UN because I want to help people that are in the middle of war. I’d like to own my own clinic because it’ll be most beneficial to a small community in a developing country or in a community that is economically struggling.”

Macedonia is pleased with her classes at the college. “I love my classes for the most part. I especially love physiology. I have learned so much.” She said that she finds her classes at the JC more difficult than high school.

As much as she likes school, Macedonia has found balancing work and school taxing.

“It’s extremely challenging,” she said. “But I was able to manage school, work and extracurriculars by sticking to my daily and weekly planner.”

Her daily commute and finding time to eat have also been arduous. “It’s hard because I’d have back-to-back classes, so it was hard to find time to eat,” she said. “Lab was also early in the morning and my commute to school and commute back was a little farther than most people.”

Ari Encarnacion, SVHS class of 2013, is a music student currently taking general education classes at the junior college.

“I’ve recently decided to prioritize getting my certificate in digital audio since I’m aiming for some work this coming summer in my field,” he says. Digital audio is attractive to him because of its flexibility.

“Digital audio is a massively broad term. It literally covers anything that combines technology and audio, composition, recording, studio work, etc.,” said Incarnacion. “It’s my go-to because I’ll always be working on computers and the skills they teach you at the JC are perfect for my intended career.”

After he finishes his education, Encarnacion wants to work in video game design. “I’ve been a musician all my life. I’ve also always been really into video games, so I figured I’d put the two together.” Encarnacion has a variety of roles he wants to play. “I’m aiming to be a video game composer, sound designer and/or an audio director.”

Encarnacion is unsure about his plans after the junior college, but definitely hopes to transfer to a four-year college – either Sonoma State or San Francisco State.

Overall, Encarnacion is pleased with his experience at SRJC. “My JC classes are way more in-depth and challenging than my high school classes were, allowing you to really learn what you want to know. Especially if you really get yourself to focus on the material.”

Wilson also feels good about his decision to attend the JC.

“I didn’t want to go into a four-year college only to decide something I wouldn’t be happy with. So I decided to do something that wasn’t so expensive where I could figure that out.”

SRJC facts at a glance

Approximately 55 percent of SVHS seniors enroll at SRJC after graduation. This number has held firm for almost a decade.

SRJC has 23,000 credit seeking students enrolled at any given time

In 2015, 1,000 students transferred to a 4-year college or university

4,800 students were awarded a degree or certificate

50 percent of the students at SRJC are 24 or under

The college is 54 percent female and 43 percent male

The school has two campuses, in Santa Rosa and in Petaluma

SRJC is the tenth oldest of the 112 California community colleges.

Full-time tuition is approximately $1200 per year.

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