We are gearing up for the spring semester at Colorado Mountain College. By now, you have probably received the new course schedule in your mailbox, and we hope you have asked yourself – and found – “what’s in it for me?”

Equal to our mission of offering degree and certificate programs, CMC honors lifelong learning, which can alternatively be called continuing education or noncredit classes. These types of classes usually are offered in nearly every discipline, from business to art, science, and language. You might take the class simply for fun, but your goal might be to gain new skills applicable to your career or personal life.

As we planned some of this spring’s continuing education courses, we considered the changes in our economy and in our local workforce. For those who might be in the position of seeking a job, seminars to refresh and update skills for resume writing and interviewing are offered. Other current economic concerns are addressed in investment and banking seminars.

In building this schedule, we also considered the types of things CMC has heard from you. The community survey we conducted recently indicated that you want to cook! Now in our fourth semester of offering cooking classes, our newly remodeled kitchen at the CMC Glenwood Center is welcoming more and more creative chefs who want to share their culinary secrets through teaching. Sometimes, instructors come to us, rather than the other way around. In a number of instances, experts in various areas have come to us wanting to teach a particular class. This greatly enhances the breadth of what we offer – including such new things as canine massage, Spanish films, and Chinese writing – all because someone stepped forward with the idea.

There is flexibility, not only in the types of continuing education classes we offer, but also in the format we offer them. Some classes span the entire 15-week semester; however, most of them are variable in duration: one night, one day, two days, five weeks, or some other combination. Short classes and seminars allow more people to participate.

The Roaring Fork Campus centers in both Glenwood Springs and Carbondale have put a new emphasis on continuing education. Each center has a person devoted to this endeavor: I am that person in Glenwood (974-8477), and my counterpart is Mary Clement (963-2172) in Carbondale. We want to know what kinds of classes you want to take, and we also want to know who out there has some expertise to share with their neighbors. We are always looking for new ideas and teachers.

Learning can facilitate and enrich many components of our lives. Whether you want to learn how to change your engine oil, or how to dance, speak Spanish, speak English, sing, meditate, communicate or yes, cook, we have a class for you this spring.

Jonathan Satz is the director of continuing education and director of the CMC Glenwood Center. Registration for all CMC spring courses begins Dec. 7.