North Carolina Community Colleges: Pioneering Increased Enrollment and Early Graduation Rates

The "freshman 15" and "sophomore 10" are a phenomenon that seems to plague community college students on every campus. Gaining weight often arrives hand-in-hand with the start of the school year, especially during the first years of college.

To combat issues related to obesity, excess weight, and poor lifestyle habits, community colleges across the country are providing students with weight loss support. Through these programs, perhaps the freshman 15 may become a phenomenon of the yesteryears!

Free Community College Weight Loss Programs

To help students enjoy weight loss success, community colleges have implemented unique and diverse programs to cater to individual dieting needs. For example, as Chron News reveals, Alvin Community College (ACC), located in Texas, now provides students with an innovative online weight loss class. Titled "Lose Weight and Keep it Off," the ACC course has been designed in cooperation with the world's largest resource and provider of online classes for adult students, ed2go. Through the expert guidance of Donna Acosta, ACC's registered dietician and nutrition instructor, all participants will learn about weight loss strategies, including:

• Sensible eating
• Simple habits of weight loss
• How to maintain weight loss results and keep the pounds off

Clark State Community College (CSCC), with campuses in Springfield and Beavercreek, Ohio, has created an event to stimulate even more weight loss motivation. To help students pursue the path to better health, CSCC leaders encourage students to participate in weight loss contests sponsored and conducted by the college's

Run Towards the Finish Line with a Community College Marathon

Are you willing to go the distance? Marathon enthusiasts can find fantastic races on their very own community college campuses. Through marathon clubs or teams, community college students not only race against their colleagues but against their professors, too!

If you're curious about what it takes to become a marathon runner, or if you're hoping to find fellow students to join for long-distance running, consider community college marathon groups available in your local area.

Benefits of Joining Community College Marathon Teams

Marathon teams are springing up at community college campuses across the country. For example, Highland Community College, located in Highland, Kansas, offers a highly competitive Highland Marathon Team for eligible students. In examining the Highland Women's team, runners were able to compete at the National Junior College Athletic Association Half Marathon Championships, where participants raced in a 13.1-mile event.

Hosted at a different community college campus each year, the 2008 race was held at Johnson County Community College. Setting a six-year record for the Athletic Association, 185 runners representing a total of 27 different colleges participated. Individual runners hoped to earn fast times, and each college team strove for a top prize and ranking. According to the Highland Women's Marathon Team records, several of the school's top runners completed the race in under 1 hour and 45 minutes!

If you're curious about how to join your community college marathon team, you may need

With the scandals of Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom in the past, today's corporate world demands a mixture of business acumen and ethics. To combat corruption, many employers are looking to hire candidates with business ethics qualifications. If you are looking for ways to enhance your resume and candidacy, consider enrolling in an ethics business class at your community college.

What are Ethics Business Courses?

Courses in business ethics are relatively new options, but they are certainly growing in relevance. As the Business Network explains, "Business ethics consists of a set of moral principles and values that govern the organization's behavior with respect to what is right and what is wrong."

Specifically, business ethics courses outline any company's moral philosophies and obligations. Business ethics classes often explore topics such as:

• Evaluation of prohibited actions in the workplace
• Legal frameworks on which an organization may be governed
• Evaluation of the most common pillars of ethics. For example, evaluation of ethical philosophies such as deontologism, relativism, egoism, and utilitarianism (although these pillars of focus may vary for each course)
• Examination of ethical violations in various business organizations (often based on hypothetical cases, historical occurrences, etc.)

This video explains business ethics.

Benefits of an Ethics Business Course

While many community colleges offer business ethics courses, North Seattle Community College (NSCC), located in Washington, has been pioneering its curriculum with practical, hands-on applications of business ethics.

NSCC

Although most parents wish for manuals, young infants and children simply do not come with instruction manuals. Fortunately, community colleges nationwide offer excellent parenting classes to help parents stimulate a child's development and behavioral growth.

As all child development experts will support, the role of a parent in a child's earliest and most formative years is imperative; proactively seeking the best philosophies and strategies for optimal child rearing can help parents and children experience greater satisfaction and care.

To find out how your local community college parenting classes can help you and your family, consider some of the most popular and widely available opportunities at campuses nationwide.

This video offers a look at the parenting courses at South Puget Sound Community College.

Mt. San Jacinto Community College (MSJCC), California Campuses

As the San Diego News Network reports, Mt. San Jacinto Community College has gained much positive attention for its innovative parenting classes. Participants enjoy free classes and resources for improved parent-child relationships and child development by cooperating with Mt. San Jacinto-area campuses. Throughout the six-week course, participants will engage in sessions focusing on issues such as "From Power Struggles to Encouragement," "Challenges in Discipline," as well as other topics of exploration.

Led by parenting expert and author Sandi Schwartz provides parents with information based on her research and four decades of experience. Schwartz believes actively seeking solutions to parent-child