CPTC Welcomes Potential Students for Fall Open House

More than 200 current and potential students made their way around the Clover Park Technical College Lakewood Campus Wednesday afternoon to learn about CPTC’s 43 different programs during the college’s Fall Evening Open House.

“We had people visit programs, apply and learn about financial aid,” CPTC outreach coordinator Janet Holm said. “The people who were here were interested. If they came to the Open House, it’s because they were very interested and looking to come here.”

The event began at 3 p.m. and ran until 7 p.m., with instructors representing each of CPTC’s 43 programs. There were also workshops with presentations about getting started, applying to attend and working through the financial aid process. While CPTC holds program information sessions twice each month, Wednesday’s Open House gave potential students the time to make their way around campus and visit multiple programs on their own time and at their own pace.

“The fact that people could visit several programs at once made the difference,” Holm said. “A lot of people were comparing programs, going from one to another because they’re interested in several. We saw people visiting some very different programs before making up their mind which one they want to go to. The Evening Open House makes it so much easier for people to comparison shop, so to speak.”

While most of the attendees were newcomers to the CPTC campus, several were current students looking into further learning opportunities. Holm recounted one such experience with one of the college’s English as a Second Language students.

“She got to walk through all of the programs, and when she came back she was so excited,” Holm explained. “She said, ‘I finally found my pathway! I went to the medical assistant program and talked to the instructor, and that’s what I want to do. I loved the instructor and I love the program!’ She was so excited that she found her pathway. Now she knows where she wants to go and what she wants to do.”

With staff members helping direct visitors around campus and instructors giving glimpses into the classroom environments, visitors took advantage of the Open House to find out about their learning opportunities.

“We had people showing up as late as the last 15 minutes of the event, because they couldn’t come earlier in the day,” Holm said. “If we hadn’t been open until 7 they might never have been able to come learn about our programs.”

Potential students who missed out on the Open House can attend program information sessions the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at 3 p.m. CPTC will also host its annual Career Conference May 11 from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. The next Evening Open House will be June 14 from 3 p.m. - 7 p.m.