Community Business College has been selected as a beta testing center for the international rollout of the new IC3 GS5 industry certification examination. The selection means the Modesto, California vocational college will be participating in the beta testing of the new IC3 GS5 exams and cloud-based testing environment. Officials at the school report they have started the testing with current students and graduates and are opening the testing to members of the public who would like a no-cost attempt at earning technical computing certifications.

  

What is IC3?

The IC3 abbreviation stands for "Internet and Computing Core Certification." The IC3 exam is a global certification, designed to certify an individual's digital literacy skills associated with fundamental computer and Internet use. IC3 is the first computer certification to be recognized by the National Skill Standards Board (NSSB). The newest edition of the IC3 certification track, known as IC3-GS5 (Global Standard 5), will be updated to include new technologies including Microsoft Windows 7 OS and the Microsoft Office suite of programs.

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 program, Community Business College is providing free vouchers to those who want to assist in the beta testing of these fully online exams. In exchange for their evaluations of the exam system, participants will receive official certificates for each exam they pass. 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.

Dan Guerra Community Business College’s director, said, “The overall goal of the 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.”

The IC3 GS5 beta exams are completely interactive and consist of approximately 115 questions. Exam takers are given 120 minutes to answer as many questions as possible.

The IC3 exams are divided into three categories:

            Key Applications

            Computing Fundamentals

            Living Online

The exams test users’ abilities to solve basic digital literacy problems, use basic productivity applications, and understand the structure of common technologies. In addition, the exam questions assess the ability to apply existing knowledge to deal with unfamiliar situations and scenarios.

Community Business College is also offering a 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.

One of the reasons the college is participating in the program to help to continue to bring high technology certifications to California's Central Valley.

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

What Community Business College Does 

Community Business College also offers online short courses

Community Business College has been training people in workforce development skills for over 17 years. The school offers job placement assistance to its unemployed graduates and enrichment classes for its working graduates to meet its goal of helping students practice lifelong learning. On-ground and distance-learning vocational classes include Computer Office Specialist; Legal Secretary; and Medical Billing And Coding.

Students attending the school are funded by veterans programs, the MyCAA military spouse scholarship program, and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) training funding.

The school’s other enrichment programs include advanced technology training, specific software classes, Business Spanish, English As A Second Language (ESL) and certifications.

Enrichment courses focus on common operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Android. Software classes are based on Office applications (Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Office 365, Google Docs, and iWork) and standard computer productivity applications such as word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, multi-media, and file and data management.

The college also participates in programs which assist adult students in completing high school diplomas and obtaining their GEDs free of charge.

The college maintains an A+ rating with the Ne-Cal Better Business Bureau.

CBC Receives Veterans/Military Family Award

Community Business College has been recognized by Military Advanced Education Magazine as a “Top College” in the 2015 Guide to Colleges & Universities.”  As such, the college received an award and an article in the 2015 guide published for military members and their families.

 

The magazine selected the college for its programs to help both veterans and military family members obtain new skills and jobs. It is one of the few vocational colleges in California to be included and it is the 4^th time the school has been so named.

 

Military Advanced Education is the journal of higher learning for today’s service member.

 

Community Business College has placed a high priority of training and services on veterans and active-duty military families. Working with the Veterans Administration, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Department of Defense, the school has been able to provide employment training and job placement assistance to California’s Central Valley military families for over 17 years.

 

“We’re excited that the college has once again been recognized for its efforts to assist the courageous men and women and their families serving our country.  They take time out of their lives to serve us and we appreciate the sacrifices they make every day. Military life can be very disruptive and our part of school’s mission is to do what we can to support them.

Community Business College provides “Thank You For Your Family’s Service” scholarships and support activities for active duty families. The school also provides active duty military spouses full training and job placement scholarships through the Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts (MyCAA), G.I. Bill, and Work Investment Act (WIA) tuition programs to help eligible military-related students cover the costs of attending the school’s vocational training programs.

In addition to its regular vocational training courses and its assisted job placement services, the school provides specialized training programs for military spouses who don’t have high school diplomas or need to learn English as a second language.

An image of this and other awards received by Community Business College can be seen at the school’s Pinterest site on its awards board at: https://www.pinterest.com/businesscollege.

Military Advanced Education is a publication of the KMI Media Group.

The 2015 Guide to Top Colleges and Universities is published each year with only the top scoring universities and colleges making the list. The goal of the guide is to measure best practices in military/veteran education.

 

Community Business College offers both online and campus-based vocational classes to help adults obtain the skills they need for employment. Throughout its 17-year history, the college has always placed a special emphasis on veterans, military spouses and military dependents.

In addition to training in portable skills, the school offers test preparation in a wide range of industry-recognized exams and also offers “Where You Go, We Go” job placement assistance.

As part of its special practices for military family, the school is also currently offering military-related job seekers a free “Job Search Tool Kit” which includes package a professional resume review, a job search guide, and help military family members complete their high school diplomas or earn their GEDs.

Staff and students of the school collect items and send care packages to troops stationed overseas. School personnel also send expired grocery coupons to overseas military families who can use the coupons for up to 6 months after their printed expiration date.

 

National Cookie Day Recipe

Here’s  the recipe for our cookies for National Cookie Day!

What makes this one special? It uses leftovers from Thanksgiving.

National Cookie Day was started by the Blue Chip cookie company and  being set in the first week of December is at the perfect time to use up Thanksgiving feast ingredient leftovers.

The nuts, canned pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice were Thanksgiving ingredients that were in the fridge and pantry. The canned whipped cream was what didn't make it to the Thanksgiving Day pies.

It’s always good to learn new things and coming up with creative ways to use ingredients that would otherwise be left to slowly migrate back to the fridge until they take on new life of their own with new and exciting organisms.

Here’s the Left-Over Thanksgiving Ingredient cookie recipe we had at Community Business College:

1 cup ground almonds

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1 cup white flour

1 egg, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup canned pumpkin (not canned pumpkin pie mix)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Canned whipped topping

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the egg and sugar together. Add vanilla and pumpkin and combine. Mix in almonds, pumpkin pie spice, flour and baking powder.

Spoon out onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet 1 teaspoon at a time, or use a molded cookie pan.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until brown. Let cool for 5 minutes and remove from pan. Then let cool another 15 minutes before topping with the canned whipped cream topping.

Today Is International Talk Like A Pirate Day - Arrr You In, Matey?

Community Business College has created the "Talk Like A Pirate" starter kit to help people learn to talk like a pirate through a distance learning class and help people prepare for Talk Like A Pirate Day and Halloween. Community Business College in Modesto, California has launched a “Talk Like A Pirate” starter kit in recognition of national “Talk Like a Pirate Day 2014” on September 19, 2014.

Learn To Talk Pirate

The pirate starter kit includes the five things every pirate needs: 1) a pirate crew; 2) a first mate buddy teddy bear; 3) an online language “Pirate Talk” class; 4) a wallet-sized pirate treasure map with common pirate slang and, of course, a swag bag of pirate booty.

More details can be found at the Talk Like A Pirate website at CBCWebCollege, the student store of Community Business College vocational training school in Modesto.

Job Fair Results - Slim Pickings

Community Business College staff attended a job fair this week.

Although there was a fairly good sized line of job seekers before the fair officially opened, this fair showed a distinct lack of job openings in the area.  The job fair claimed over 800 jobs but there were less than a dozen booths.

The depressed economy still depresses many.

There was, however, a ray of hope - college job placement staff along with other professional volunteers, provided free resume reviews and helped the job seekers prepare themselves and improve their chances for when the job openings do start coming in again. This is the same resume service that Community Business College offers its alumni to help them find employment.

Will the MyCAA military spouse tuition scholarship program be cut by the big sequester cuts?

It looks like the answer is “no.” At least for the time being.


The college staff attended a webinar with MyCAA operational staff and due to the nature of the funding, there are no projections of MyCAA cuts or program suspensions.

That’s the good news for military spouses. Don’t forget though, the program did shut down a couple of years ago (2010) without much advance notice to either students or schools and so it is possible it could happen again without warning.



Other programs are not so lucky, again due to the nature of the funding and the sequester law.



For example, one of the Air Force scholarship tuition programs ran smack into the sequester chopping block.



Without much warning, participating schools were told at the time, that Acquisition Civilian Tuition Assistance was not suspended, but “on hold. “ Participating schools were told they should continue to process all approved Authority for Tuition Assistance - Education Services Program - Civilian ACQ, AF 1227 forms.



In fact, James A. Cody, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force wrote this letter, announcing the sequester cuts:

Fellow Airmen,

 As you know, our Nation and our Air Force are working through some significant fiscal challenges. The combined effects of continuing resolution and sequestration are forcing some very tough decisions. Unfortunately we'll likely be forced to furlough nearly 180,000 civilian Airmen for 16 hours per pay period for the remainder of the fiscal year starting in April. This is one of many impacts on your units and our Airmen and Families. Given this environment we've had to make the decision to suspend military Tuition Assistance (TA) for the remainder of this fiscal year.

Effective 1700 EST, 11 March, Active Duty Airmen will no longer be able to submit requests for Tuition Assistance.

Believe me, this was a tough decision because our Air Force truly values education. This is evidenced by our requirement for a Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) degree for senior rater endorsement (SRE) eligibility.

SRE means a great deal in the promotion of Master Sergeant to Senior Master Sergeant, and this will not change. We understand suspension of TA benefits makes things tougher, but there are other ways for Airmen to complete CCAF degrees. CLEP exams, the G.I. Bill, scholarships, and federal grants are some options.

We remain as committed as ever to ensuring Airmen have the opportunity and means to pursue educational goals. We're still looking at the impacts for FY14 and will do our best to have TA reinstated, although we'll likely need to review the eligibility requirements to ensure sustainability. We owe you more information on this and will provide details as soon as we can.

Thank you for your service to our Nation.

The program was reinstated a few weeks later.


What does this mean for MyCAA? It means that, although there are no current plans being announced for any cuts or holds, it doesn’t mean that still can’t happen at any time. Interruptions can be very chaotic to students. Community Business College always tries to accommodate these unforeseen circumstances. It’s one of the reasons Community Business College has been named a “Military Friendly School” over 4 years in a row.


The best answer? Tell all the military spouses who are eligible to sign up for an account as soon as possible. They don’t have to enroll in any classes immediately but they will at least get their feet in the door. Last time the MyCAA operators suspended operations, they allowed all students who were in the system to complete their application processes and finish out their coursework (just like you can see in the Air Force letter above). Enrolling in the program and getting the preliminary paperwork out of the way is a good placeholder in case somethign happens. Then, when a military spouses is ready to start, everything is all taken care of.


For more information about military spouse eligibility or the vocational training programs available to military spouses, visit the Community Business College website at http://www.communitybusinesscollege.edu/mycaa.html.

Happy Pi Day 2013

Today is Pi Day.

Just what is Pi Day? Well since the value of Pi is considered to be 3.14 then today date of 3-14-13 is this year’s Pi Day.

The number Pi (or π, if you’re using the Greek letter) is a mathematical constant. It’s technically the ratio of any circle's circumference to its own diameter. For general use, Pi is the number you get when dividing 22 by 7. It’s approximately equal to 3.14159.

What’s special about Pi? Well here are a few interesting things:

•  Pi is an irrational number. In irrational number is one that can’t be written exactly as a ratio of two integers. That means when people say Pi is just 22/7, they’re technically not correct. 

•  Pi is a transcendental number, which means that despite thousands of years of people trying to do it, it is impossible to solve the ancient challenge of “squaring the circle.” It means using the tools of a compass and straight-edge to construct a square with the exact same area as a circle.

•  Pi has a decimal pattern never repeats. So far, nobody has been able to distinguish a pattern of repeating numbers in the digits that flow to the right of the decimal point, despite having been calculated out to more than a million decimal places.

                Here’s an example: 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716.

As a vocational college, we find that most of our students are adults who use everyday math just fine but have forgotten some of the things they learned in secondary school. Geometry and the concept of Pi are concepts not only used in specialized fields but also around us all the time if you just look for them.

Events like today’s Pi Day are good reminders of how fun math can be and how to keep on learning.

And, since any celebration includes some type of dessert, here is an easy recipe for making your own Pi pie on Pi Day. Its measurements use the value of Pi and it includes Greek yogurt for the Greek letter. Ok, that might be stretching it some but we’ve got to get in the spirit of these things and it sure does make a good no-bake cheesecake pie.

EASY As PI - PI-Day Cheesecake Pie

Ingredients:

3.14 ounces of plain Greek yogurt (can be rounded to 3 ounces)

3.14 ounces of sugar

6.28 ounces cream cheese, softened (can be rounded to 6 ounces)

6.28 ounces of thawed whipped topping (can be rounded to 6 ounces)

3.14 ounces of sugar (can be rounded to 3 ounces)

Splash of vanilla

Instructions:

Mix cream cheese, yogurt, and sugar together until smooth. Add vanilla. Gently fold in whipped topping until well combined. Do not over-mix or the air will come out of the whipped topping and the pie will be too dense. Pour into pie crust shape (see below for recipe). Chill for 1 hour in refrigerator and serve. Top with remaining whipped topping if desired.

Make Your Own Graham Cracker Pie Crust

Ingredients:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Using heavy duty aluminum foil, pinch out the PI Greek letter π to form at least 1 inch wide “legs” and 1 inch wide top bar. The lengths should be approximately four inches each. Spray well with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine all ingredients.

Press over bottom and up sides of foil form. Chill for half an hour, using crumpled aluminum foil around the form to support the shape until it sets. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes.

More Rational Pie