In this month’s school spotlight, we are highlighting consortium partner school, Colby Community College, located in northwest of Kansas, about 50 miles from the Colorado and Nebraska borders. Find out what makes this school cool.
We asked Doug Johnson, Director of Public Information for Colby Community College, to tell us more about some of what’s happening at CCC:
Equine Science
Colby Community College offers equine science degrees online and on-campus. Those in the Associate of Science in Horse Production and Management program benefit from extensive hands-on practice in breeding, foaling, training, nutrition, health/first aid and equine business through involvement in the daily operations at the college’s agricultural center.
Students in the horse program find opportunities for involvement in local and state functions. Past students have volunteered at production sales, hosted the kids corral at EquiFest of Kansas, participated in 4-H project meetings, and hosted FFA horse judging contests, Girl Scout merit badge days, and summer horsemanship camps.
Most students in the equine program ride on the equestrian team. As only one of two Kansas community colleges with a team, CCC travels to Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming to ride against much larger schools. As a member of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association, students of all skill levels have the opportunity to ride and succeed in divisions consistent with their ability. The team is open to both men and women and competes in hunt seat and western horsemanship. As those in the industry know, riding can be expensive. CCC reduces student costs by providing horses and tack for practice and utilizing competition horses provided by the host college.
In addition to individual national qualifiers, success came to the 2015 and 2016 teams as they were Junior College Equestrian Championships (JCEC) champions. The invitational competition hosts two-year colleges from across the country.
Virtual Office Assistant
Virtual assistants are independent contractors who support multiple clients in a variety of industries providing administrative, creative, and technical services. According to the National Business Educators Association, virtual office assistant is one of the fastest growing fields. Colby Community College is part of this exciting growth, and can train students who are not able to relocate or have time to attend class on campus. The fully-online program is designed so virtual assistants can create, manage, and market a virtual office or convert a current home-based business to a virtual office.