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.

Military Spouse "Thank You For Your Family's Service" Scholarship

Most people understand what a sacrifice the members of the military take on when they sign up for armed forces duty. Military service personnel take a big chunk of their lives and turn it over in service of their country.

As we wrap up Veterans Day 2011, it's a good time to reflect on what these people do and why this day is so much more than just a 3-day holiday weekend.

The annual Veterans Day parade had a lot of people this year, especially given the cloudy weather and the chance of rain. The overcast clouds, however, added to the poignancy of the setting as we contemplated the sacrifices made by service personnel. One bakery was handing out free gourmet mini-cupcakes to any current or retired service member and other vendors were offering special discounts for members of the military services as well.

It's important to recognize not only the service of the individual members of the military themselves but also the families of the military, as well. Because they aren't always in the headlines, it is sometimes easy to forget what family members sacrifice. Military families are constantly on the move, which makes it difficult to establish long-lasting friendships with neighbors and classmates because spouses and children never know how long they will be in one place before being transferred to a new location and starting over.

Community Business College recognizes the importance of military spouse education and the challenges that come with achieving higher education due to constant moves and expenses. That's one of the reasons why Modesto's Community Business College supports veterans and families to help them on the path to a successful, portable career through the "Thank You For Your Family's Service" scholarship.

The "Thank You For Your Family's Service" scholarship was established in 2009 to help more people get full value of their education efforts and to try to help more military spouses than might be otherwise served.

The privately-funded scholarship program, coupled with the Department of Defense MyCAA funding program helps spouses of active duty service members get the training and job placement assistance they need for portable careers. Depending upon their choice of training programs, military spouses can qualify for up to 100% of the tuition and costs to be covered by the combination of funding programs. From Project Management certification in conjunction with the Project Management Institute to Medical Billing and Coding, military spouses have a wide range of opportunities from which to choose.

In order to be eligible, spouses register with the Military One Source system. The training programs must be "job ready," for which Community Business College's vocational (both on-campus and online) training programs qualify. Spouses of recently returned veterans have 180 days from their de-activation to remain eligible.

As part of its overall efforts to bring more training opportunities to military families, the "Thank You For Your Family's Service" scholarship is one of the reasons why Community Business College in Modesto has earned the designation of the Military Friendly School by G.I. Jobs Magazine for three years in a row.

Thanks again to all who serve our country.

For more information, check out the school's website or write to MyCAA@communitybusinesscollege.edu.