Fast Track To Work
Fall 2008
Staff Changes & Additions
Show Us Your
Stuff!
We want your stories, essays, poems, art work & photos! Fast
Track would like to collect your
expressions of your successes,
challenges, hopes, fears, or whatever you’d like to share. Please
email them to Dena Taylor
(detaylor@cabrillo.edu), or drop
them off at the FTTW office to
Dena’s attention (include your
contact information). Our hope is
to put these into print! You will be
contacted before anything
is published in
order to get
your permission and give
you more details.
Important Dates
Winter Session Early Registration
for Continuing Students
10/27
Veterans Day Holiday
11/11
Last Day to Withdraw
11/22
Spring Schedule on Website
11/24
Thanksgiving Holiday
Spring Semester Early Registration
for Continuing Students
Fall Semester Ends
College Closed
11/27 & 28
12/8
12/20
12/24—1/1
Winter Session Begins and Parking
Permits & Bus Passes available
1/5
Martin Luther King Jr. Day Holiday
1/19
Spring Parking Permits & Bus
Passes Available
1/26
Winter Session Ends
1/30
President’s Day Holiday
2/6
Spring Semester Begins
2/9
We are thrilled to welcome to our office a couple new staff members!
Noemi Gonzalez has replaced Caitlin as our new
Office Specialist and
Brianne Riggins is our
new social work intern for
the fall and spring semesters. And Karen Farrow’s
wonderful assistant, Janis
Farmer, has stepped into
the Job Development Coordinator position to fill in
while Karen is recovering.
Noemi
Hello all you Fast Trackers, In
case you haven't met me yet, I am
the new Office Specialist! My
name is Noemí (no-emmy) Gonzalez. I always tell people who
have trouble with my name to
“think that I am not an actress,
thus, I have no-Emmy award!” I've
already met quite a few of you
and have really enjoyed the great
conversations and little insights
on life that I've gained. I appreciate working with you and look
forward to more. Good luck this
semester!
Brianne
Hello everyone! My name is
Brianne and I am thrilled to be
joining the wonderful staff at Fast
Track To Work, to provide individual counseling services to anyone interested. I am currently attending San Jose State University,
working on a Masters in Social
Work. I will be available this
school year, interning Tuesdays
and Wednesdays from 9-5pm.
Please feel free to come by and
say hello or to make an appointment for some private sessions. I
am looking forward to meeting
you!
Janis
I’m very happy to be able to step
into Karen Farrow’s shoes for a
while in the Job Development
area. Having worked with Karen
since August 2007, I feel confident
that I know most of the ins and
outs of Work Study. However, I’m
always willing to learn more – if
you have a question for which I
don’t have an answer, I promise to
do my best to find it.
It’s been great putting faces to the
names I know already and I’m
looking forward to meeting more
CalWORKs students in the future.
Remember, if you want or need
some Work Study experience,
then I’m your first stop. Don't forget that through Work Study, you
are able to keep your total earnings - there are no deductions
from your cash aid.
CalWORKs Activities
During School Breaks
FTTW Student
Award Winner
At this time, there is some confusion about your
having to stay busy for 32 hours, even during
holidays, vacations and times when school is not
in session.
Last May, Shannon Brady was honored with the Women's Opportunity Award, along with a check for
$1,500 to help her complete her
nursing studies at Cabrillo College. A single mother, Shannon is
the first president of the new
Cabrillo College Medical Assistant Club.
The Fall semester ends on December 20 and the Spring semester begins
on February 9. Until this week, we believed that you would either have to
enroll in Winter session classes (January 5-30) or find some other way to
fulfill the requirement for seven weeks. In fact Janis has been working on
a program of alternative activities. But now there are some new guidelines in place.
We recommend that you contact your County Educational Training Specialist to find out what's required in your case. And, as always, come and
have a chat with us if you need help.
Need Help In Your Classes?
Fast Track To Work students are eligible for 2 hours per week of free
tutoring for each class taken. Go to Room 1080, the Learning Resource
Center. The following classes are currently being tutored:
Accounting 151A, 1A;
Japanese;
Biology 4, 5, 6;
Medical Assisting 130A, 170A & B;
Chemistry 1A, 1B, 2, 30A, 30B, 32;
Math 254, 154, 152;
Comm 1;
Music 1 – 4, 6;
Digital Media 1, 4, 12, 70, 110;
Philosophy 4, 9, 10, 14;
English 100, 1A;
Political Science 1;
French;
Psychology 1, 4;
History;
Spanish 1, 2, 3;
Save Money & Get
More Money!
The Santa Cruz Community Credit Union
(SCCCU) has established an Individual
Development Account (IDA) program. The
purpose of this account is to help you save
monies for higher education or to start
your own business. The SCCCU is matching what you save—example: you save
$40.00 a month and they match it $40.00 a
month = $80.00 for you! If you are interested and want more details
please call 479-6344 to make an appointment with Catherine Lachance.
Karen Update
My stroke was July 24th, so it’s
been three months now. My
mother came to stay and I really
appreciate the support she has
given me. She's going home to
Minnesota at the end of October
so I'll be getting used to doing
things by myself once more.
My progress is good and I'm
walking without a wheelchair,
some days I don't even use my
cane. I am in therapy three days a
week all day long, and I am definitely feeling better because of it.
My left side is still not doing anything so I am working very hard
on that.
I miss everyone very much and if I
had not had all the student support and good wishes I have received, I would not be doing as
well as I am.
Love, Karen
Changes to WIA Reimbursements
Expenses Reimbursements:
The WIA program has a couple of
changes that may affect your
sponsorship. The County of Santa
Cruz Auditor’s office may deny a
claim for reimbursement for purchases made by the participant if
the county has a contract with a
community vendor set up for that
purchased item. For example: The
county has a contract with Galli
Gear & Uniform Company for uniforms, shoes, and other medical
accessories. If you purchase
scrubs from another company
instead of using the voucher system in place, the county may deny
your claim for reimbursement.
Or: If you purchase your books at
the Cabrillo College Bookstore on
your own instead of using the
voucher system in place, the
“The County may deny a
claim for reimbursement if
they have a contract with the
vendor set up for that
purchased item.”
county may deny your claim for
reimbursement. Before making a
purchase, please ask if you can
get a voucher for it.
You may pick up a current WIA
reimbursement request form in
the FTTW office. Please complete
it and submit it with your receipt
& proof of purchase when requesting reimbursement for training expenses that are not available at one of the preferred vendors.
Transportation:
Effective July 1, 2008, WIA will be
enforcing the $600 limit on supportive services according to
their written policy. Supportive
services include payments to assist with transportation, child
care, and other needs related
payments. To be approved, supportive services must be necessary to enable you to participate
in your approved program.
If you have any questions about
the changes in policies or practices regarding the WIA program,
please call the FTTW front desk at
(831) 479-6344.
What does this mean to you? Starting July 1, 2008, if you are approved for transportation reimbursement (set at $5 per day of
A Note from Claire
As usual I hope this newsletter finds you well. This has certainly been a
busy semester! But now things have slowed down a bit for me and I
would like to hear from you. How has your semester been? Are you interested in adding any classes to your education plan? Do you have any
other necessary revisions? Are you graduating soon? Have you filled out
a petition to graduate? Call me and/or make an appointment. Rules and
regulations are often changing, so come on in and let's see if there are
any updates we need to make to your educational
plan.
If you are new to Cabrillo College as of fall 2008 you
will need to take and pass English 1A and Math 152
to graduate with your AA or AS. If I neglected to put
that in your education plan, you must come in so I
can make the correction. If you cannot come in, call
or email me this month. Thanks.
Take good care and remember that we are here to
assist you and help you to achieve your important
goals.
Claire
attendance), you can only be reimbursed for up to 120 days of
attendance. That may sound like a
lot, but if you attend training
(whether at Cabrillo or a clinical
site) an average of four days per
week, your transportation reimbursement will last less than two
semesters. For those who were
enrolled prior to this fiscal year,
this limit does not apply to any
transportation reimbursement that
was claimed before June 30, 2008.
Affordable
Substance Abuse
Treatment
Janus of Santa Cruz provides high
quality programs for recovery
from alcoholism or other chemical
dependencies. They offer Perinatal Day Treatment for pregnant,
post-partum or parents of young
children and an Intensive Outpatient Program. Treatment is designed around the client’s needs
and includes group and individual
sessions. There are a variety of
ways to pay for these programs:
Drug Medi-Cal, private insurance,
self-pay with sliding scale and
county funding with authorization.
If you’d like more information,
call 462-1060.
Reminders
from
Catherine
If you will be graduating this semester, schedule an appointment
with one of our counselors to fill
out your petition. Also if you have
changed your class schedule so
that it no longer matches your
education plan, please schedule
an appointment to revise your ed
plan.
Holiday Books!
Your kids are going to love this! Once again
Catherine’s book group has chosen us as recipients of their holiday wish for children. This
means that there will be a free holiday gift
(book) for every FTTW child! Come by the
office starting the week of December 8th to pick up a book for each of
your children. Please sign the thank you card when you drop by.
Free Internet Goodies
openoffice.org—Software applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. You can save files
in Word 97/2000/XP formats and many more. Just download to your own
computer.
google.com, documents—Online software applications for word
processing, spreadsheets and presentations. Under the “More” tab select
“Documents.” You may access your documents anywhere there is
internet access. There are many templates too!
Have You
Thought About
Teaching?
If you are interested in a teaching
career in the K-12 system or in a
Career Technical Education setting please contact Catherine or
Nancy to see if your are eligible
for the CTE/Teacher Preparation
Pipeline at 477-5627.
grammar.quickanddirtytips.com—Grammar Girl provides short,
friendly tips to improve your writing. You can listen to podcasts online or
download. There is also a weekly email. Lots of great information on the
website too. Take a peak at the other Quick and Dirty Tips podcasts.
TED.com—Fascinating talks on a huge variety of topics by the world's
greatest thinkers and doers. Get inspired in 18 minutes or less by watching these FREE talks!
pandora.com—FREE music to listen to from your computer. With Pandora you can explore a vast trove of music to your heart's content. Just
drop the name of one of your favorite songs or artists into Pandora and let
the Genome Project go. It will quickly scan its entire world of analyzed
music to find songs with interesting musical similarities to your choice.
Then sit back and enjoy as it creates a listening experience full of current
and soon-to-be favorite songs for you.
Fast Track To Work
hulu.com—Hulu is an online video service that offers hit TV shows, full
length movies and clips all for FREE anytime in the U.S. Hulu brings together a large selection of videos from more than 100 content providers,
including FOX, NBC Universal, MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Warner
Bros. and more.
Cabrillo College
6500 Soquel Drive, #802
Aptos, CA 95003
snopes.com—Verify those pesky rumors and urban legends that your
well meaning friends forward to you. This site investigates rumors’ origins and reports whether they are true or false.
831-479-6344 Fax:477-5632
fasttrack@cabrillo.edu
fasttracktowork.blogspot.com
Monday—Thursday
8:00 to 12:00
1:00 to 5:00
Friday
8:00 to 12:00
Have a great
Thanksgiving
holiday!