CBC Closed for Presidents Day 2018

Community Business College always observes the Presidents Day holiday with a 3-day weekend.

But, the learning goes on. 

In the spirit of always learning new things, here is some interesting U.S. presidential trivia:

George Washington was the only American president to be unanimously elected.

Chester A. Arthur was nicknamed “Elegant Arthur” because of his fashion sense.

Franklin Pierce was the first president to have a Christmas tree in the White House.

James Madison was the shortest president ever elected.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 1826.

Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to call his residence in Washington, D.C. the “White House.” Prior to his term, it had been called the Executive Mansion.

Grover Cleveland personally answered the White House phone.

James Madison was the shortest and lightest president at 5 feet, 4 inches and about 100 pounds.

Millard Fillmore installed the first bathtub and kitchen stove in the White House.

Andrew Johnson was buried beneath a willow tree that he planted. His head rests on a copy of the Constitution.

Zachary Taylor received his nomination for presidency late because he refused all postal pieces with postage due.

Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only American president to be elected four times.

James K. Polk fulfilled all his campaign promises: The U.S. acquired California from Mexico, settled the Oregon dispute, lowered tariffs, established a sub-treasury, and retired from office after one term.

Harry S. Truman use to get up at 5 o’clock in the morning to practice the piano for two hours.

The phrase “O.K.” is credited to Martin Van Buren who was raised in Kinderhook, New York. After he went into politics, Van Buren became known as “Old Kinderhook.” Soon people were using the term O.K. referring to Van Buren and the word “okay” was born.

William Henry Harrison served the shortest presidency, dying just 32 days after he was elected.

John Tyler never ran for the office of the Presidency – as vice-president he assumed the office of the president, served out his term, and left.

Herbert Hoover approved “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the national anthem.

Calvin Coolidge lighted the first national Christmas tree in 1923 on the White House lawn.

Ronald Reagan became the oldest person ever elected U.S. president at the age of 69.

George Washington was the first to hear the president’s theme song, “Hail To The Chief” as president. Chester A. Arthur tried to change it to the song “Presidential Polonaise.” When Arthur left, so did the polonaise.

George H.W. Bush is distantly related to Presidents Franklin Pierce, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Gerald Ford, Benedict Arnold, Marilyn Monroe, and Winston Churchill. Of course, so was his son, George W. Bush.

September 2017 Graduation Ceremony

This week we had our first graduation of the fall semester at Patterson Adult School.

For our potluck, someone brought home made sliders and someone else brought hot dogs. There were lots of desserts and side dishes and it was all delicious.

The word of the day was achievement and it was used a lot, especially in the context of graduating from the course is a significant achievement.

Achievements like this definitely belong on resumes to help career building. It demonstrates to employers that they can complete a course of training and practice lifelong learning.

We always allow graduates to say a few words when they receive their certificates. Most just give a quick thank you. It is, for many, their first exposure to public speaking, of course.

One student received a congratulatory bouquet of balloons from her family. We always recognize family and friends who support our graduates because, we know that without that kind of support, graduations like this wouldn’t be possible.

It was the end of one class, but it also points to the beginning of another. Many of these basic electronic bookkeeping students will be moving on to the advanced class using QuickBooks.

So congratulations to all of the graduates and good luck finding jobs with your new skills to put on your resumes.

Learn A New Word Every Day

With so many people wanting to exercise their minds, there is no easier way to do it than to learn new words.

How To Do It:

Read, read, read. The more you read, and the greater variety of materials you read, the more you are exposed to words with which you may not be familiar.

Check out this blog that offers a new daily word with definition and tricks to remember it every week day - https://cbcollege.wordpress.com/

Or, get a picture of the Word of the Day from Community Business College's Pinterest Board at https://www.pinterest.com/businesscollege/words-of-the-day/

Everybody Needs A Refresher - Even Microsoft Testing Software

Not only do people need to refresh themselves with new knowledge every once and awhile, but computer software does, too.

You've undoubtedly seen your operating system constantly updating itself. It needs to learn to new things, too.

So today, John is updating our Microsoft Office Testing Center for the new school year. So even tests need to refresh themselves. In a way, it's the computer software practicing lifelong learning.

Now that means Community Business College will have the Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access and Microsoft PowerPoint testing system all ready for the Eckerd Youth training program we are starting over here at Community Business College.

Just like with humans updating our skills, the process is not difficult but it just takes a little time.

Learn A Word A Day

Community Business College has been providing students a "Word of the Day for 20 years now.

It's a fun game to help reinforce and build vocabulary.

Today's word of the day is:

CBC Closed for MLK Day 2017

Community Business College will be closed today in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday.

Martin Luther King Jr. demonstrated how the power of words and use of language can change the course of history. As our school is dependent upon the use of language to teach ideas and thoughts to others, it is a suitable time to reflect on how words can inform and inspire.

Our history, our culture, is made up of thoughts and ideas that our turned into ideals for which we can strive.

As lifelong learners, we can take solace that just as our history can change for the better, so can we. All it takes is a little learning, time and thought.

Free PowerPoint Certifications Are Here at Community Business College!

Community Business College has been selected as an official Microsoft Office Specialist  beta testing center for the newly developed Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 certification exams.

The beta testing will be offered free to volunteers who would like to participate and will take place through May 30, 2016 (or until enough exams have been administered to provide complete results). The college is waiving the regular exam proctor fee for the duration of the beta testing period.

The college began working with the Microsoft testing administrator earlier in 2016 to assist in beta testing the suite of programs that make up Microsoft Office 2016. Beginning with Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, the Microsoft PowerPoint exam is now ready to be tested.

Officials at Community Business College report they will be starting the testing with current students and graduates but are also opening the testing opportunity to members of the public who would like a no-cost attempt at earning technical computing certifications.

These exam certificates are the official acknowledgement from Microsoft that holders possess certain levels of competence in the program and this information has been independently verified.

MOS Certification

The purpose of the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification is to allow people to earn a certificate in a specific Office Suite program. Microsoft states that one of the advantages of earning an MOS certification is that holding a MOS certification can earn an entry-level business employee as much as $16,000 more in annual salary than uncertified peers.

Community Business College was selected because of its expertise in the technologies required for implementing the exams and its extensive experience in beta testing technical certification exams.

To implement the beta testing program, Community Business College is providing free MOS Certification vouchers to volunteers who would like to assist in the beta testing of these fully online exams. In exchange for their evaluations of the exam system, participants who pass the exams will receive official certifications at no charge to them. The school is absorbing all costs for this high-technology project and will provide these services all at no cost to the participants. The vouchers will be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis up until the project is complete.

Exams are primarily performance-based and conducted in a "live," or simulated, environment. Exam candidates taking these certification exams are asked to perform a series of tasks to clearly demonstrate their skills. For example, a Word exam might ask a user to balance newspaper column lengths or to keep text together in columns. MOS 2016 presents the candidate with a project to build, with tasks and steps that build on each other.

Each beta exam takes about 2 hours to complete (although some test takers may finish quicker).

Why Community Business College?

Community Business College’s director, Dan Guerra, said, “Our goal in participating in this high technology project is to test the functionality of the updated exams and their new delivery engine environment. Modesto, with its new initiatives to kick start its technology sector, is a great place for this to happen. It’s also an excellent opportunity for people in the Central Valley to earn an official technology certification at no cost to them.”

People who do well on this exam, even if they don’t pass, might want to try their hands at the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championships.

The Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship is a global competition that tests students’ skills on Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Top students are invited to represent their respective countries at the World Championship. In some countries or regions, students are required to participate in a National Championship, and the winners of that event continue on to the World Championship.

Community Business College is also offering a complimentary study guide and informational outline on its website for those interested in learning more about the exam. Once the beta testing is complete, the live version of the exam will be continuously available at the institution.

People who would like to participate in the beta test can contact the school’s main office either by phone or e-mail through the webpage www.cbcwebcollege.com.

What Did YOU Learn Today?

One of the things we do at Community Business College is ask all of our students, “what did you learn today?”

It’s a good reinforcement tool and sometimes the answers to that question tell us a great deal about where a student is in the learning process and it caps off an end to the class with a quick learning review.

After completing a QuickBooks class module with the learning-challenged students from Modesto’s Mentor Network yesterday, we reviewed their Profit and Loss Statements. This is something new for the college and we did this class as a pilot project. As you'll see, it was a huge success!

In this QuickBooks class, the students got to choose their own stores, come up with the names and stock it with virtual products. They learned how to order stock, pay for it, sell it and make deposits.

For those not in the know, a Profit and Loss (also known as P&L) Statement is a tool for businesses to use to determine whether or not your business is profitable, how much of a profit has been made or if the business has incurred a loss.

Our Sample P&L Statement

Profit and Loss Statements are also commonly referred to as an income statement, statement of financial performance, revenue statement, earnings statement, or statement of operations. To paraphrase Shakespeare, “A report by any other name will still smell the same.” Whatever you decide to call it, the purpose of the report is to present the revenues recognized for a specific period, and the cost and expenses charged against these revenues, including write-offs (e.g., depreciation and amortization of various assets) and taxes.

So yesterday, they got to run their Profit and Loss Statements for the first time. Then they got to make them blue, modify the report and save the report. We did some more sales, went back and checked the Profit and Loss and saw the growth.

The class learned about the literal “bottom line” on the report tells them how well their company is doing and the real meaning behind the term “Black Friday” (the day when traditionally, companies that are “in the red” see their profits move back “in the black.”)

Then we got to run the sales graph which is QuickBooks’ very colorful illustration of the results of the sales of a company.

That got a lot of oohs and aahs.

At the end of the class, we asked, “so, what did you learn today,” and almost unanimously came the replies about making profit. Of all the QuickBooks activities they did that day, seeing the graphic results of the work in their stores is what they remembered most.

And they had fun learning, too.

All of the students and the aides worked really hard to get to this point. QuickBooks makes things easier but it still takes patience to make work correctly. And these students did it. It warms our hearts to see them enjoy learning so much and it reminds all of us how lucky we are to have the gifts we have.

So here’s the question of the day: “What did you learn today?”

Can you help us keep this program going? We set up a GoFundMe campaign to try to offer this program to those who have special needs. Check out the details here at https://www.GoFundMe.com/101lqw

Learn to master QuickBooks in one of the campus-based or online classes Community Business  College offers. Then when you’re done, pass the Intuit Certification Exam and receive an official QuickBooks certificate

Mastering Microsoft Office

Today, Community Business College had a record-setting day. One person was able to complete her Microsoft Office Masters certification by completing all four required tests in three days.

Test Strategy

Here’s what she did to strategize:

First pick the Microsoft Master certification you want.  Recently, Microsoft changed the system to include two different tracks that include two expert exams for Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.

Here are the Microsoft Office master certifications from which to choose:

Word 2013 Track

       Exams required:

              Word 2013 Expert Part 1

              Word 2013 Expert Part 2

              Excel 2013

       Elective exams (choose one):

              PowerPoint 2013 or Access 2013, Outlook 2013, or SharePoint 2013, or

              OneNote 2013

Excel 2013 Track

       Exams required:

              Excel 2013 Expert Part 1

              Excel 2013 Expert Part 2

              Word 2013

       Elective exams (choose one):

              PowerPoint 2013, or Access 2013, or Outlook 2013, SharePoint 2013, or

              OneNote 2013

Traditional Office 2013 Track

       Exams required:

              Word 2013 Expert Part 1

              Word 2013 Expert Part 2

              Excel 2013 Expert Part 1

              Excel 2013 Expert Part 2

Office 2010 Master

       Exams required:

              Word 2010 Expert

              Excel 2010 Expert

              PowerPoint 2010

       Elective exams (choose one):

              Microsoft Office Outlook 2010, or  Microsoft Office Access 2010, or

              Microsoft SharePoint 2010

In her case, she wanted the Microsoft Word 2013 Track because she uses Microsoft Word heavily at her work site. So that’s the one she picked.

The next strategy is to figure out where you strengths are. When taking the Microsoft Office exams, it helps to start off with a program you are very familiar with. That way you get quick passing grade and build momentum.

Here’s the way she did it: She did these two exams on one day:

       77-422: MOS: Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2013

       77-420: MOS: Microsoft Office Excel 2013

Then this exam the following day:

       77-425: MOS: Microsoft Office Word 2013 Expert Part 1

And then finally this exam today:

       77-426: MOS: Microsoft Office Word 2013 Expert Part 2

PowerPoint can be a difficult test because a lot of people take it for granted. If you use a lot of its features though, or study up on the ones you’re not that familiar, it’s not too hard.

The recent change in the Microsoft Expert certification means that the Microsoft Word Expert exam is now split up into two 50-minute exams. It means you have to be familiar with a wider range of Microsoft Word functions in order to pass it.

Why Go To All That Trouble?

The Microsoft Office Master Certification demonstrates the highest level of proficiently when using Office programs. Many employers will use it as continuing education units or to meet certain job requirements. It certainly helps when you’re going in for an annual employee evaluation meeting.

Certification is Important

The need for Microsoft Office skills is increasing dramatically as more and more businesses are embracing newer technologies. Microsoft Office Specialist certification enables Office users to demonstrate their abilities to complete tasks and projects with greater ease and efficiency with proven Office skills. Based on globally recognized standards, MOS certification validates your skills, builds self-confidence and enhances professional standing among peers and managers.

Lifelong Learning

Getting certified through Microsoft also provides a good deal of personal satisfaction. Adults always need to practice lifelong learning and this is one way to do it. The new Microsoft Office Specialist certification validates the skills needed to use the powerful features and functionality of the Microsoft Office programs by passing a results-oriented computerized exam. Those who successfully complete a Microsoft Office Specialist exam have demonstrated the skills necessary to work faster and smarter while improving performance.

Bottom line – you get out of Microsoft Office only what you put into it. The more you know, the more you can do.

As you study and prepare for the Microsoft Office Master certification, you’ll find you learn a lot more about these programs than you’ve been using. Hopefully, you’ll be able to put what you’ve learned to good use in more efficient and time-saving work.

One of the nifty changes the testing system has made is they now offer certification verification. It’s sure easy for unscrupulous people who want to forge their own certifications to run off their own on a good color printer.  Microsoft Office certifications now offers this website : www.verifycertiport.com  where anyone can enter a code that appears on all official certifications

Need to brush up on your Microsoft Office classes before you look at the exams? Join us at the Community Business College campus in Modesto, California or use distance learning to take an online class. More information can be found at this catalog of Microsoft classes: https://cbc.ed4online.com/search?search_api_views_fulltext=microsoft+office+certification

Dec/Jan Solar Pro Magazine Arrived Today

We just received our shipment of the December/January 2013 issue of SolarPro magazine. This magazine is one of the main publications in the solar industry.

The magazine comes out every couple of months and has articles on new technologies, new laws and what's been happening the world of solar and photovoltaics.


SolarPro Magazine



Sure, interviews with members of the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection may not sound like an exciting read to a lot of people, but if you're in the industry, it's good to keep up with what's going on.

That's why Community Business College does things like handing out free magazines and subscriptions to its students and graduates.

One of the most important things we teach in all of our classes at Community Business College is to practice lifelong learning. There's always more to learn in an industry because, now more than ever, there are technological and procedural advances in every aspect of work. From solar panel installation rules to new ICD-10 coding for medical billing and coding to updated Microsoft Office software, those who don't keep up will be left behind.

If you're interested in receiving a free copy of the latest issue of SolarPro magazine, stop by the school's admission office and just ask for one at the front desk.

Is Tetris Good For The Mind?

During the student meeting today, one of the Community Business College adult students made the case that Tetris is good for the brain. Some people will lump Tetris in with all video games and say that it doesn't do much good but the question here is - can the game improve your mind?

This student grew up in the 80's when Tetris was big and freshly imported from the old Soviet Union. It quickly caught on and can be found on many all-time favorite video game lists. But since that time there have been so many video games available, its popularity has settled down.

That's not to say that Tetris hasn't made a huge impact in the culture. From video game consoles, to Halloween costumes and even videos of human Tetris, it's not hard to find Tetris references. But is it really a mental exercise?

Tetris Screen Shot- Somebody Needs More Practice

For those not in the know, the game is played with shapes of four squares stuck together. They're called "tetrominoes," or in the game, "tetriminos" as opposed to two-square "dominoes." The pieces drop one at a time down the matrix  with the player able to rotate the pieces 90 degrees at a time and slide them from side to side. The object of the game is to fit the pieces together without any gaps. When a horizontal line is filled in with no gaps, it disappears, making room for more pieces to fall and scoring the player some points. The second object of the game is to keep making those lines disappear because if the whole matrix fills up with game pieces, the game ends.
As the player "beats" each level by using up the game pieces, the following level drops them faster and, thus, increases the challenge.

But Can It Change Your Brain?
Of course, this is of interest to us at Community Business College because we are all about training brains. But can Tetris make a difference in your brain? After doing a little research, some (including our stalwart student today) seem to think so.

Researchers Dr. Richard Haier, Richard J Haier, Sherif Karama, Leonard Leyba and Rex E Jung found in 2009 that when a person first starts playing Tetris, brain function and overall activity increases, and the brain's metabolism increases along with the consumption of blood glucose. This means playing the game really gets the brain going.

As players of the game get better at it, their brain metabolisms showed improved efficiency.  Even moderate playing of Tetris (half-an-hour a day for three months) seemed to boost general cognitive functions such as "critical thinking, reasoning, language and processing" and increasing the thickness of the players' "grey matter."

There's even a syndrome called The Tetris Effect for those who overdo it and play the game so much that they start seeing common everyday objects as Tetris game pieces. So, walking down the street and looking at the skyline of a bunch of city buildings triggers the mind to involuntarily imagine how those shapes might fit together as if they were Tetris objects on the game board.

So maybe there's something to this.  Most people probably don't play the game excessively and develop a syndrome but Tetris seems to definitely make some changes in the brain.

Kudos to our student for making the case that games are not always just fun but can be beneficial to our minds, too. Plus it takes your mind off of the troubles of the day.

College Offers Cyber-Monday Deal

The lifelong learning community education department at Community Business College is now offering a Cyber Monday discount of 12% off of any class to help launch the "Mastering Public Speaking" class.

This is an instructor-led, 6-week course where students learn to speak confidently and persuasively to both large audiences and small groups. The course helps students master the art of verbal and nonverbal communication, find out how to overcome their fear of public speaking, learn how to organize and deliver a short or long speech effectively, and practice techniques for communicating with ease and skill in any setting from a meeting to a job interview. The skills learned in this skills-enrichment program translate to other parts of life where communication is important.

By making the classes available online and by blending them into the campus-based programs, the college is offer the best of both worlds to “Mastering Public Speaking” students. Through expert-designed lessons, experienced online instruction, and interaction with fellow students, participants in this course gain valuable knowledge at their convenience. They have the flexibility to study at their own pace combined with enough structure and support to complete the course. Students can access the classroom 24/7 from anywhere with an Internet connection.

The next class starts on December 14th, 2011 and enrollments are being accepted now. New sessions of the course run each month. The public speaking course lasts six weeks. A dedicated professional instructor facilitates every course; pacing learners, answering questions, providing interactive feedback, and facilitating discussions amongst the class participants.

The discount offer starts on CyberMonday, November 28th, 2011 and lasts throughout the following week. To learn more, visit the school’s lifelong learning website at http://www.cbcwebcollege.com.