The College and Career Center held an information session for Diablo Valley College (DVC) on January 11 during Academy. The meeting focused on DVC’s diverse series of programs – which allow students to pursue varied career and academic pathways.

DVC has over 50 degrees and certificates, many of which can be completed in two years or less. The community college also boasts high career education completion rates and transfer rates to 4 year colleges. DVC offers countless opportunities for students, for example a highly sought after dental hygienist program. DVC even has a partnership with Tesla where students can work at the company while studying manufacturing and development.

The presentation was done by DVC STEM Academy Program CoordinatorHillary Shen. “I think it’s important for high school students to know that there’s a lot of opportunities out there for them, some that they may not have considered before, and that you don’t have to just think of a four year university right out of high school. You can go and get a two year certificate or go and transfer from DVC to a four year university, and maybe even career paths that they haven’t considered, because they didn’t know they were there,” said Shen. “DVC has a great community of staff that have actually been students and experienced what it’s like to be student, so student life is strong at DVC as well as resources with tutoring and support services. The workforce development program at DVC is a great place to go and get skills on what to do when you want to go out into the workforce.”

Many students felt that the talk helped them think about the different paths they can take after high school.

Senior Sophia Galindo said, “This talk really informed me about all the different subjects and classes I could take at DVC. I liked how the presenter talked about the UC transfer program, which is really nice since I know some of the credits I took at Campo can be transferred to DVC.”

DVC has a wide variety of programs, including their popular drama program. “I’m interested in DVC because their theater program is really good. I’ve performed on their stage and I’ve also taken a couple of classes at DVC, like ASL [or American Sign Language] last year and I had a really good professor,” said senior Kayla Smith.