Profile……

Carol Kuhwarth: Registrar Extraordinaire.

Without registrars, no college or university would have students. The Learning Center is no different. Without our “registrar,” Carol Kuhwarth and her committee, the Learning Center wouldn’t have any students either.

Technically, Carol is the chair of the GCCLC Council’s administrative group, but her main job is filling the classes with students. She also publishes and distributes a course flyer in advance of each of three groups of classes per year. “We do all of the student registering, scheduling of classes, and collecting of fees,” Carol explains. “We run 18 to 20 classes and we do it three times a year. For the “semester” that starts in September, we have 160 students registered. Sometimes it’s as many as 178.”

Carol shrugs off the fact that this is a lot of work. Only five of the current crop of students registered by e-mail; the rest phoned Carol–at her home–to sign up. She not only has to keep track of currently registered students, but she has to manage a waiting list too. “We already have a waiting list for January–people who couldn’t take the September classes,” she says. On top of everything else, Carol coaches for at least one class each semester.

Carol was born and grew up in Neenah, Wisconsin. “That’s about 30 miles from the Green Bay Packers,” she says with a laugh. “I went through school as usual,” she continues, “and went on to the Milwaukee State Teacher’s College. Then I taught first grade in a variety of places–Racine, Wisconsin; Tempe, Arizona; and Valley Cottage, New York.”

After several years of teaching, Carol moved to the San Rafael area in California. “There, life began at forty for me,” she says. Another chuckle. “I went to work for Pacific Coast Building Products where I was a retention collector for contractors.” There, Carol met her husband, Jack, who worked at the same firm.

“When Jack retired, I stayed on for a year or so. Then I retired too. After that, we ‘unretired,’ moved to Sebastopol, and bought a feed store. We had that store for 15 years.” Carol and Jack sold the feed store, “but I wasn’t ready to retire yet. So I operated an antiques store and pretty much did my own thing for a while,” Carol adds.

Then came a second round of retirements and the move to Grass Valley. “That was five years ago next November. I volunteered at the Senior Center and took classes, and that’s how I hooked up with the Learning Center,” she continued.

Carol is proud of her work on the GCCLC Coordinating Council. “We’re 13 dedicated people who make the plans, address the problems, collaborate with each other, make the decisions, and do the work that keeps the Learning Center on the right track,” she explains. On the Council, Carol is joined by others who address education and curriculum issues, manage the finances, handle public relations, and make sure the computers and related technical infrastructure remain healthy.

What does Carol do for fun? “I do scrapbooking and rubber stamping…..and shop.” Bigger laugh. “We used to do cruises, but since we’ve been up here, we’ve become real nesters. Our house is really the center of our personal life now.”

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Convalescing At Home

While in Portland early in August, Nancy Maxwell fell and sustained serious injuries to her shoulder and ankle, which required surgery to correct. The good news is that she's home now and doing well.

Mitch Bain underwent major surgery on August 18th but as of this newsletter deadline, he was recovering nicely. He tells us that it may be a while before he is able to resume his teaching and lecturing duties, however.

Our best wishes to Nancy and Mitch for speedy recoveries!

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Going Back To School

By Martha Metropulos

Many of our students have not been in a classroom–as a student–for a long time. Therefore, a few suggestions about making their class experience a success might be useful.

Tell your coach or instructor if you can't hear the instructions, can't see the projector screen, need an adjustment to the height of your chair, or are uncomfortable in any way.

Take the scheduled break in the class away from your computer rather than continuing to work. A good stretch is helpful when you may not be used to sitting for an extended period of time.

Ask questions. Most instructors would rather have you ask for clarification than struggle with something. If you don't understand, perhaps there are others who don't either.

Rely on your coaches and instructor for help rather than asking the person sitting next to you to help.

When you work at home or in the lab, make notes about procedures you may have trouble with so you’ll be able to ask for help at the next class. It’s a good idea to put a pad of "post-its" beside your computer to flag your questions in the manual.

Try not to get discouraged. It takes time to master any new skill.

Practice, practice, practice. It's a good idea to try to review the lesson and new skills at home or in the lab as soon as possible after class and as often thereafter as you can.

Have fun doing this! We have all made new friends and learned so much from each other, we are happy to share the experience.

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September Events

September Seminar……

Wednesday, September 28 (1:00 - 4:00)
“Computer Projects Focusing On a Photo Slideshow Program and Other Projects”

Presented by Jany Dalstra

Jany will demonstrate the “how tos” of minor editing, pan, zoom, and transition effects along with narration and music. Your families and friends will enjoy these value-added memories!

Seminar fees are $10, single and $15, double. ($5 for GCCLC volunteers.)

September User Group meeting…..

Thursday, September 15 (9:00 – 11:00)

"Burning and Ripping CDs Using Windows XP Tools"

Presented by Roger Thornburn

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Update from the Curriculum Committee

By Martha Metropulos

We have completed several new manuals that will be used in upcoming sessions.

• Computer Fundamentals–written by Don Tweedie and Nancy Maxwell. The manual  is easy to use with good basic instruction for true beginners on using the mouse and keyboard.
• Internet–written by Nancy Maxwell. Learn to use Internet Explorer to navigate the World Wide Web.
• Fun Exercises with Paint–written by Doug Worthy has been updated for the November session.

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Will the GCCLC Get a New Home?

The Community Center where the GCCLC has been meeting for years, has a limited life in its present venue. The Community Center has been holding a 25 year lease on its property on the Nevada County Fairgrounds, but that lease is coming to a close in a couple of years. What is the GCCLC to do? That’s a question that is of intense current interest, as we are committed to continuing our instructional program without interruption.

Bette Worth, the Community Center’s executive director, is working with project manager Francisco Lovato to coordinate with Community Center users and develop plans for a new facility. Howard Klein is the GCCLC representative for collecting all of our user information, helping to develop our new space needs based on historical and future planning data, and for working with Francisco.

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