0
0
By Destiny Rivera | Interim Managing Editor
New frontiers (Allison Perez | Interim Photo Editor)
By Destiny Rivera | Interim Managing Editor
Riverside City College begins the 2012 spring semester with its new nursing, math and science complex opening to the public and serving students for the first day of class.
Prior to its Feb. 9 grand opening, the RCC nursing program held a luncheon and tour Jan. 23, where guests were given the opportunity to view the inside of the new complex.
“We have more than tripled our space,” said Amy Vermillion, an associate professor of nursing. “There is excitement, and there is fear; just because everything is new and just like moving in to anything that is brand new, there are glitches and so we are just trying to adapt to them as needed.”
The new complex will provide more opportunities and reenact real life experience that nurses deal with in the workforce.
“It is going to bring a new sense of realism to the student; it is going to house equipment,” Vermillion said. “The environment will be as though they are in a real clinical environment with real patients, as close as you possibly can.”
The extra space is much needed in the building; it provides for more equipment that will assist students in everything they need.
“We have increased our space tremendously which allows better learning, and more resources,” Vermillion said. “Allowing students to kind of spread out and learn, rather than them being on top of each other. There is more access.”
Although there will be more space to enroll more students, Vermillion said the nursing program will not be increasing its enrollment because the college is not in the position to hire faculty due to the budget cuts that are occurring at the moment.
“Our enrollment did double, and we are merging the Moreno Valley campus now with Riverside campus,” Vermillion said. “We are all in one place now.”
“There are still a couple of classes that are offered at the Moreno Valley campus, but there are no other cohorts chancellor’s grant that we received a couple of years ago which we had increased our enrollment by 50 percent,” she said.