For many students, the standard course-style classes offered at San Jac seem to be the ideal method for learning and discovering new skills and passions. Students are routinely enrolled in 16-week or 8-week courses, offered face-to-face, online, or in a hybrid format. However, there might be another way for students to acquire skills and learn new topics and ideas in a much shorter time frame: workshops or, in a more modern tag, Pop-up Classes.
“Sometimes I feel like subjects that stretch out for weeks can really make me feel disinterested and disengaged,” says Adrena Romero, a first-year student at San Jac. “It also makes it really hard to find a genuine passion for particular topics that just seem dragged out or brushed over.”
San Jac’s Student Success Center offers a range of workshops in varying subject matters. Students can access virtual 10 to 90-minute courses via Student Lingo by using their San Jac login information, and San Jac faculty offer in-person, hybrid, or virtual workshops.
Romero believes that classes/events that pop up for a day or so on campus can be a fun and exciting experience for students to get engaged with and find new passions and skills they may not be able to find with a regular course.
Adrena recalls the many workshop classes she has attended over the past few years, but specifically mentions a class she participated in a year ago about cooking Italian food, and how it
gave her a new and exciting skill.
“Taking that class really gave me a newfound love of cooking, and taught me some history of Italian food, certain cooking techniques, and even got some new recipes I could try out for myself all within one day,” says Romero.
Pop-up classes can help students with their study skills, prepare for the Texas Success Initiative Assessment, and prepare for subject-specific college courses. The TSI Assessment preparation courses are free and open to the public. Registration is required at https://www.sanjac.edu/support/academic-support/student-success-center/resources-workshops
The Student Success Center is located in the Library of the North, South, Central, and Generation Park campuses. For more information, visit the Student Success Center or email [email protected].
