Julia Lyles

Like my class mate said we have come to the end of the road.  I have compleated all the required Quizes, and most of the required homework assignments applied to the class studies.  Was not felling well yesterday but today I like to think our Instructor, Mrs B for the patiences she had with her senior student.  This class was a big help to me in understanding the workings of the computer.  Now I do beleive I can keep up with the best of them who are on line and  typing the required letters that I need to send out for my personal life and a few needed for my church.  Now that I have an extra skill I can apply to my Resume.   Thank you so much Mrs Sandra Balderrama and Dr.

Julia Lyles

Now that the class has come to an end, I just can't say thank you enough to all envoled in the setting up of the Computer Class.  Thank you Mrs. Balderrama.   Thank you Ms. Gracia.   Also Thank you President Arturo Frias of Local 132.  Thank you all.

CIT 100 CLASS

Mrs. Balderrama has so helpful during this class. I now know more enhancements on Microsoft Word which will help me when creating word documents at work.  I knew Excel before but I used it on Excel documents that others had created. Now I feel very confident in creating an Excel document from scratch. And the same thing applies to Power Point. I have used it before, but not created one from scratch. And now I can create a power point, and add all the enhancements necessary such as Transitions, Animations, Sound, and duration.
I had not used Microsoft Access before, but after this class, I now know what Access is used for, and now I can use it with confidence. 
I would like to thank local 132 for this opportunity, and ask the National Union to consider another grant to our local union in the future, because I for one would definitely take advantage of this opportunity again to expand my knowledge. 

Thank you,
John Albright

End of the road...

Well, it's only been a semester but it feels like much longer. Over these past few months I have come to meet and network with all you fellow students, Mrs. B and of course the ever-diligent Michele. We were all fortunate enough to be eligible for this amazing program, but it was a one-in-a-million chance that we fell under the umbrella of protection afforded to us by Michele.

Firstly, allow me to say that I have worked for the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, State of California, Humboldt State University and been a private SCUBA instructor. Never in all my working life have I been offered the opportunity to take college courses for free. This union-sponsored program is surely an anomaly in the professional world. Although registering for this class guaranteed me many hours of homework-based frustration I have come out the other end a better person for the experience. The lessons learned have applications in both my professional and personal life. I can apply this class to my Gas Company career because I am now up to date with the latest database management and word processing software. If I can manage to get promoted out of my current position, Part Time Meter Reader-Transitional, I know that my contributions to the organizations will grow exponentially. I can also manage to transform seemingly meaningless facts from my personal life into useful data: spending habits, bills, to-do lists and even my route times for my meter reading routes. With the tools that this class has sharpened, all this information can easily be transformed with the click of a mouse into check-lists, graphs, spread-sheets and databases.

Mrs. Sandra Balderrama, the instructor I always wanted in my B.S. program, was also a delight. She managed to customize our syllabus and course-load to our unique circumstances. She understood we are all thoroughly exhausted from our shifts of answering customer service calls, processing mountains of payments, dealing with delinquent customer accounts and scrambling to meet the seemingly impossible bench-mark of "Route-Time". Mrs. B customized our material and most importantly her teaching style to meet our needs and energy-levels. If only more of my university-level instructors were as understanding and flexible as her I might not have spent so many sleepless nights cramming for exams.

Michele Gracia, if there ever was a real-life superwoman surely it would be her. From the beginning Michele managed to gather all us union brothers and sisters into one place and effectively conduct an orientation. Speaking as a witness, it was not an easy task. Going above and beyond, Michele managed to register every single member in attendance with the California Community College central website. My memory of Michele will surely be of her waiting patiently for me in the college parking lot one our first day and taking me to get my textbook and parking permit. Later Michele managed to lobby for us to receive our software package just to make life easier for us when we worked on our homework. I would be at fault if I did not mention her ever-present text messages to remind us of the latest updates for class. All in all I am overwhelmed by level of effort demonstrated by Ms. Gracia, she truly is a dedicated professional unmatched by any mentor or case-worker I have ever met.

My only regret is that I will not be able to attend further union sponsored classes next year. I will be sure to keep my eyes open and my back pack ready if ever the opportunity again arises. Thank you all for your time, friendship, camaraderie and humor I could not have done this without all of you.

-Alfonso Campa

Julia Lyles

This is the last week of the computer class.  I am so thankful to my local 132, for considering the full time employees to be added to this class.  Thank you President Art for fighting for us to receive the Grant.  This class will take us far in life.  We will be able to take this knowledge a long way.  Now that I am more knowledgable of blogging and sending and receiving E mail.  I would also like to thank our Instructor  Mrs. Sandra Balderrama for her knowledge of computers and kindness and patiance for working with this senior citizen.  At one time I though about giving up the class, but was encouraged to hang in there.  I am so glad I did.  Pleas consider re-offering the class again.   Thank you so much all who were involved.

********

So its the last week of class and it has been a very good and learning experience. I wasnt computer eliterate when I started but I didnt know as much as i know now about word, excel, access, and power point. Yes some sections were harder then others and at times you just wanna give up a lil but everytime I get that feeling of giving up our amazing teacher is there to break it down and help me understand it. I believe that is one of the reasons why I didnt miss class and actually enjoyed learning. If anyone is thinking about taking this class i would highly recommend taking it. You will learn alot of good stuff and how to use these programs.

Local 132 Privileges

This class has been very beneficial. Some of the simplest things that we've learn can go a long way. We have all been been very privileged to have a Union and a Union worker such as Michele who has done an amazing job as she has helped this class to run as smoothly as possible, and for taking care of all of our registrations, books, parking, flash drives, and software. Mrs. B has also been very cooperative with all of our busy and scattered schedules. In a regular college class the teacher would not be as lenient anjd willing to change their plans and schedule to benefit the students. We as students would have to make time and find any way possible to get the homework finished. So I personally am very greatful for our Local 132 and the opportunities they present there members.

-Christian Bernal

Julia Lyles

Now that class will be over soon.  We were informed that we will be the last class sponcered by this program.  ACCORD Community First.  Yet I fell thankful that I was able to get in.  The help that was applied by Michele Garcia was the best.  She made sure her students has the required measures to attend also the supplies that were needed to attend.   From registration to books to  parking passes.  I know for sure if left to do it all on my own I would have forgot something.  If at any time in the near future a class is offered again, I would be one of the first to encourage others to jump to it.