The Austin Community College District (ACC) celebrated its summer and fall graduates during commencement on Thursday, December 10, at the Frank Erwin Center (1701 Red River St.).<\/p>\n
More than 2,300 students were\u00a0invited to walk including a growing number of bachelor-degree holding students who returned to college at ACC to earn new and additional workforce credentials.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis moment will\u00a0resonate with these students and their families for the rest of their lives. It\u2019s incredible to see the pride in their faces,\u201d says Dr. Richard Rhodes, ACC president and CEO. \u201cFor many of these students they\u2019re the first in their families to go to college and now they\u2019re graduating. Others came here with a degree already in hand, but a dream to do even more. We\u2019re celebrating all of their accomplishments.\u201d<\/p>\n
The associate degree is the fastest-growing workplace credential. Nationwide, one out of every 14 community college students has already earned a bachelor’s degree. This fall, 7.1 percent of the students enrolled at ACC held a bachelor\u2019s degree or higher.<\/p>\n
Veronica Betts graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University in fall 2013, but struggled to find a job.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I went for job interviews I found that I lacked some of the skills employers wanted. They wanted someone familiar with computer-aided design (CAD). After six months without a job I realized that I needed to go back to school,\u201d says Betts. \u201cACC has one of the best CAD programs in the country. I enrolled for a chance to start over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Betts joined other ACC December graduates, earning her associate degree in CAD<\/a> with a mechanical specialization.<\/p>\n \u201cThis program has given me the skills sets I need to get a job,\u201d says Betts. \u201cI got hands-on training with the exact programs I\u2019ll use in the workforce. The experience is invaluable.\u201d<\/p>\n “Students with bachelor degrees enroll in our program to broaden their job opportunities or to jump start a new career\u00a0in Austin\u2019s high-tech job market,” says\u00a0Doug<\/span> Smith, ACC Architectural and Engineering Computer Aided Design department chair. “Our program compliments the training\u00a0they already completed.”<\/p>\n Along with the college\u2019s CAD program, enrollment among bachelor-degree holding students has grown in biotechnology, computer programming, and health-sciences disciplines.<\/p>\n For more information about ACC programs visit austincc.edu\/degrees-and-certificates<\/a>. Enrollment for spring is underway now at austincc.edu\/spring<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Austin Community College District (ACC) celebrated its summer and fall graduates during commencement on Thursday, December 10, at the Frank Erwin Center (1701 Red River St.). More than 2,300 students were\u00a0invited to walk including … Continue reading