Access CVU Shifts and Adapts

Many of you are likely familiar with Access CVU, the valuable program that offers courses for community members to expand their knowledge and learn new things. Laura Howard, the Program Director for Access, shared the post below with us. This is in no way intended to be an advertisement for Access; we want to highlight what they have accomplished and what they continue to offer our community especially during a challenging time. Okay, maybe it's a bit of an ad. Keep this in mind for the upcoming Winter/Spring semester! 

Ginny Joiner Watercolor Plein Air

Access had to pivot quickly this semester to comply with the COVID state guidelines that stated no public access to educational buildings. At a crossroads we had two choices: Either postpone the program to the following Fall school year 2021, or embrace virtual and outdoor learning. We sent a survey to our Access members and had an overwhelming response from the public to continue offering classes in any capacity possible! So, to meet the needs of the community we started to work with our instructors to offer online and outdoor classes this Fall. With a very limited budget and only a team of two, myself and Jen Morton, we managed to offer 156 classes this semester!

Thankfully, last fall we had transitioned to using an online registration platform, Eleyo, which also hosts our website: https://cvsdvt.ce.eleyo.com/. Many members already had user accounts so enrollment and online payment was easy. We are fortunate to have for the 3rd year in a row, CVU Senior, Isaac Krementsov, volunteer his time to help instructors and community members with any technical, Zoom or computer issues. This has been a huge asset for many of our partners that were intimidated to take or host an online class. To date we have had 745 registrations and still have 40 new class offerings that have not yet started!

It was not feasible to produce the famous "Access Brochure" this year so we got creative with our advertising. We used FPF, Social Media, local newspapers, and started a weekly newsletter (highlighting upcoming classes) which yields the most uptick in registrations. We were also fortunate that the Shelburne News did an article on Access at the beginning of the semester, which can be found here.

Some of our class highlights this semester:

• Watercolor for Beginners with Ginny Joyner. This class was offered outside on the CVU campus (see photo) and has now transitioned to online for the remainder of the semester
• Carving in Wood- The Spoon with Bob Lindemann, "Under The Lights!"
• Ethiopian Injera - Take Out Dinner with Alganesh Michael - We served an overwhelming 60 meals at the back of the cafe!
• Intro to Kickboxing on the CVU Green!
• Spanish Language Classes online with Dunia Partilo
• Primitive Fire Building with Mischa Tourin
• Shaken & Stirred: A History of Cocktails from c.1700 to present day, 3-part series with Adam Krakowski
• Lincoln Hill's 19th Century Black Farming Community with author, Elise Guyette
• Canine Manners- Dog training class under the CVU pavillion
• Chinese Medicine 101- Online with Liz Geran
• Digital Photography with Sean Beckett. Plus, 4 other virtual photography classes!
• Yoga for Women with Jane Taylor- Online for all ages and abilities

So many more...

We send out surveys after completion of each class so that we can improve upon the experience and give feedback to our instructors. The silver lining for Access this year is that we can now reach communities near and far with virtual learning. Although, nothing beats the in-person connection, we will continue to offer enrichment and enjoyment with virtual options. We are currently planning the Winter/Spring semester that begins in February. Virtual classes will begin the semester and as the weather warms in late Spring we are hopeful to offer outdoor learning again in May/June.

Thank you, as always, to CSVD for your support of the Access CVU community ed program!

Kickboxing under the tent

Mala Bead

Watercolor for Beginners