CCC’s Summer Learning Program and Summer Art Workshops are among the noncredit topics being offered during the summer months this year. Courtesy photo.
FLAGSTAFF — Telling stories with iPhone photography. Separating facts from myths about the planets in our solar system. Cracking a cold murder case from northern Arizona’s past. Learning about Native American art and culture.
These topics and many more are part of Coconino Community College’s newly launched Summer Learning Program, an enrichment series of noncredit presentations to support education and lifelong learning.
“In listening to what our communities have told us they want, CCC has begun setting the foundation for growing its noncredit courses as part of our mission to foster lifelong learning,” said CCC President Dr. Colleen Smith, Ph.D.
In the past, CCC has offered a variety of noncredit courses as a way for Coconino County residents and visitors – young and older – to remain connected with learning. Budget constraints, which continue, put a temporary stop to noncredit offerings, and CCC is now working its way back into the field with the help of “champions” of the college and volunteers who donate their time, talent and personal finances to revitalize such an important mission.
“In 2017, I joined an ever-growing group of Flagstaff citizens who support Coconino Community College and applaud its role as a community partner,” said Gail Low, a Flagstaff Certified Public Accountant and member of the CCC Champions. “CCC Champions decided to create a summer series of classes about our region to support the College financially and to help create awareness of its excellent programs.”
Lowe added that what emerged was the 2019 Summer Learning Program, supported by experts in their fields who volunteer their time.
“The end result is a wonderful opportunity for residents and visitors to learn about our area and support the College,” Lowe said.
The fee for the Summer Learning Program, which will be $300 for an individual supporter and $500 for a couple and cover all 24 sessions throughout the month of July and into August, will offer several benefits and will serve as a fundraiser for CCC’s Continuing Education program. Registration and attendance will support CCC programming in Career and Technical Education; enhance continuing education and workforce training; bring county residents together to learn about new topics; and promote lifelong learning and intellectual stimulation.
The presentations are broken into six topics: Creativity and the Arts; Northern Arizona History; Native American Art and Culture; Myths and Facts of Our Night Sky; Civics and Our Constitution; and Petroglyphs, Pictographs and People. The presentations, broken into two sessions a day to allow participants to attend as many as their schedules allow, will have morning sessions, 10-11:30 a.m. and afternoon sessions, 1:30-3 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Artist Duane Koyawena will discuss the “Art Journey of a Hopi Artist,” on Thursday, July 18. He is generously donating his time to CCC to give the presentation.
“I just feel like my personal art story is a story of the struggle to find myself as a father, a friend, a man, and my culture and who I was as a Hopi,” Koyawena said. “It’s a journey of sobriety and finding that belief in art that I have. It took me a while to figure that out.”
His survival of substance abuse and his growth as an artist has been nothing short of miraculous, and he’s been very blessed. He’s had to ask for help to overcome the obstacles in his life, and he’s worked hard to rediscover his culture and his heritage.
“I think it’s important to share that,” Koyawena said. “Maybe it will help and inspire others.”
His work incorporates modern and historical Hopi themes. His work has been part of the “Pivot” skateboard art exhibit, which has most recently been on display at the Museum of Northern Arizona, and the Pivot exhibit is traveling across Arizona right now. Its current location is at Diné College, in Tsalie on the Navajo Nation.
The Summer Learning Program builds on other noncredit presentations and topics that CCC has instituted in the last year and a half. Last year, CCC began offering summer camps for children and a monthly Educational Talk, or ED Talk, that covers a wide range of topics – from outlaws of the old west, to the different types of volcanoes that are present in northern Arizona. Also last year, CCC began offering noncredit Summer Art Workshops, and the Summer Art Workshops are continuing this year and are currently underway.
The Summer Learning Program presentations take place at CCC’s Lone Tree and Fourth Street campuses, and the Continental Country Club. To see the complete program descriptions and registration information, visit coconino.edu/community-education.