STC begins Music and Culinary classes at Mid Valley
Guitar instructor Jaime Garcia teaches a course recently at STC’s Mid Valley Campus. STC has announced that it will begin offering Music and Culinary Arts courses for the first time at Mid Valley beginning in the fall.
For the first time ever, South Texas College’s Mid Valley Campus will add courses in Music and Culinary Arts just in time for the fall semester.
STC will open a new piano lab on the Mid-Valley campus that will allow both Music Majors and others to register for piano as well as guitar instruction.
“As the Music Department continues to grow it’s become obvious we are now in a position to strengthen our presence on another campus outside of the Pecan site. Mid-Valley was the perfect choice to begin that process,” said Music Department Chair William Buhidar. “It really is a remarkable way to instruct students in one classroom setting who are at different skill levels.
“Thanks to Dr. David Plummer and Daniel Montez for their encouragement and support on this new venture,” Buhidar said. “For us, it’s simply another great way to engage our students and community with South Texas College.”
Culinary Arts will open four new courses at Mid Valley that will be conducted using the hybrid system enacted by STC for the fall utilizing in-person and online instruction. Culinary classes will include Basic Food Preparation; Pies, Tarts, Teacakes & Cookies; the Fundamentals of Baking; and Professional Kitchen Essentials.
Fall classes begin Aug. 24.
South Texas College is prioritizing the safety and well-being of all its students, faculty, and staff in the wake of the current COVID-19 global pandemic.
STC plans to make extensive use of technology, while preserving the most important elements of in-person required activities, through an in-person/hybrid course structure.
Fall courses requiring hands-on activities will be split into 50 percent classroom instruction and 50 percent online instruction.
Programs requiring hands-on learning include Nursing and Allied Health, Sciences, Information Technology, Workforce and Public Safety, Art, Drama, Music, and Kinesiology. These courses will use the hybrid format to deliver content online and hold in-person sessions for required hands-on activities.
The instructional courses with hands-on requirements will have a reduced seat time. Faculty will rotate students into the instructional space to conduct in-person activities while maintaining social distancing for each face-to-face meeting time.
“We know people are looking for these courses, so just to be able to offer them with our new facilities is amazing,” said Dr. David Plummer, Interim Executive Vice President for Educational Programming and Student Achievement as well as Vice-President for Information Services, Planning, Performance & Strategic Initiatives.
“The Music and Culinary programs have been growing at Pecan, and we know that there will be great demand at Mid Valley,” Dr. Plummer said.