In 2022, Black Hawk College will be adding two courses of study to its already impressive toolkit to help solve area employment problems and develop a talented, highly-skilled workforce to attract new businesses.
Those two new programs are the Cybersecurity Associate in Applied Science (AAS) and a certificate in Court Reporting. Cybersecurity officially started in January, and Court Reporting will officially begin in the fall.
Dr. Richard Bush, Dean of Career Programs at BHC-Moline, believes these programs will help students pair their interests with a skilled career, while also benefitting the Quad-Cities community.
“Helping students marry up their passions with the needs of not only the local and regional employers, but anyone in the United States that needs that talent…is what community college and higher education is all about,” said Dr. Bush
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The Cybersecurity program is designed as a stackable credential, meaning students can receive smaller industry credentials while pursuing the Cybersecurity AAS degree. Students start by learning about hardware and software and then have the opportunity to earn their A+ Certification.
They can then go out and begin their career, earning experience and income while still expanding their skillset at school and earning other industry certifications.
“Cybersecurity in and of itself isn’t sufficient for an individual if they don’t understand the hardware and the software, how those things can be compromised and interact in a networked environment,” said Dr. Bush. “We build the rest of the program on top of all of that and pull all that together into a comprehensive package.”
Some potential career paths for students in the Cybersecurity program include Cyber Threat Assessment, Information and Data Protections, and Network Architect positions. The curriculum will evolve from semester to semester as the threats in the cyber environment evolve.
Dr. Bush said the program has drawn students who like to solve problems – avid gamers in particular.
“We tend to draw students who enjoy a kind of quest, the ability to protect a thing or to uncover a weakness or uncover something within an environment,” he said. “It’s kind of a gamification of life for them. They get to defend something real, against people who have mal intent, and exercise that gaming mind of theirs on a daily basis, and get paid for it.”
Protect and serve
Careers in Cybersecurity and Court Reporting both share the opportunity for students to use and develop their native analytical skillset to help their community.
The Court Reporting program will be the first of its kind in the region. It will also play a vital role in the Quad-Cities courts system by helping replenish the talent pool of court reporters since the industry is expected to experience numerous retirements in the next few years.
“Court reporters in the area approached us to begin a program here,” said Dr. Bush.
Students in the Court Reporting program will be able to purchase a quality stenograph machine with their financial aid, just like they would a textbook. This will be the first machine they’ll take out into their career.
Court reporters are needed for many aspects of the legal realm, such as depositions, board meetings, and numerous types of legal proceedings.
Black Hawk College’s program isn’t limited to just legal court reporting but instead will help build a student’s skillset making them versatile employees that can fill many needs in the community.
“Court reporting isn’t as straightforward as you might think,” said Dr. Bush. “The same technology you might use in a courtroom is used for close captioning on TV screens, or taking interview notes for, let’s say, research projects. It’s used for medical transcription as well.”
This gives someone trained in court reporting the opportunity to have a great career as a court reporter while also moonlighting in a variety of other areas. They can significantly increase their salary while filling many positions needs the area might have.
Growing Need, Growing Interest
In 2022, Black Hawk College will continue to train a group of professionals vitally needed by our community – healthcare workers.
The Health Sciences Center houses all of BHC’s health career programs. This includes three nursing programs (nursing assistant, practical nurse, and RN), the surgical technology program, EMS paramedic programs, and the physical therapy assistant program.
“What we’re seeing across the board is a high demand in almost every single one of those areas,” said Dr. Bush. “We’re seeing a great deal more interest [from area] employers to help us increase the number of students that we can safely take into a program.”
As the demand for skilled healthcare workers increases, BHC partners with Genesis, Unity Point, Hammond-Henry, and other area hospitals to train healthcare students in clinical rotations.
Dr. Bush hopes that in training more students during these clinical rotations, BHC can “provide more graduates at the end of the day, to help fulfill some of the job demands that these institutions have.”
Worth Every Penny
BHC offers an affordable and accessible path for students to upskill and bring their knowledge to the workforce.
“We offer significant per credit hour savings for students,” said Diana Strom, BHC’s Director of Financial Aid.
BHC’s Financial Aid Office’s advisors help students with everything from filling out the FAFSA application to finding scholarship opportunities. They even offer financial aid informational workshops to community members who are not attending BHC.
“We want to help students and families in our community,” said Strom. “It’s about accessibility but also just success in the community, and trying to support that wherever it may lead a student.”
The financial accessibility to educational opportunities means preparing more employees for the workforce. Even better, future employees who attend BHC can find any path that suits their passions.
“If you can help someone tie their passions and interests together, and give them a pathway to a future that they are dreaming of but push them a little bit beyond their comfort level, you now create an individual who walks out of here realizing I truly can do anything, as long as I set my mind to it,” said Dr. Bush.
“At the end of the day, that’s something that we, and all the employers in our region, are seeking.”
