Insurance Studies Summer Camp Starts June 10!

Explore a career in insurance, meet with industry professionals, and earn 3 credits toward your Certificate of Completion (CCL) in Insurance Studies with our Insurance Studies Summer Camp, starting June 10!

Insurance professionals are the first to admit that when they were young, they never dreamed of working in the insurance industry. Once they started their insurance careers, however, they quickly realized this industry offers competitive pay and benefits, diverse career paths and growth potential, and a unique opportunity to help others when they need it most.

This hybrid INS100: Insurance Industry Profession course will give you the chance to see what your career path could look like in this thriving industry. Classes will be held in-person at Rio Salado College - Tempe on Mondays from June 10 to July 1 and will continue in an online format until Aug. 3. Light snacks and lunch will be provided.

In-Person Schedule (June 10, 17, 24, and July 1)

9:00am - 9:30am       Networking (Light Snacks Provided)
10:00am - 11:00am   Lecture/Activity
11:00am - 1:00pm     Guest Speaker Presentation
1:00pm - 1:30pm       Lunch with Guest Speaker (Lunch Provided)


Best of all, scholarships are available here, which means the program could be completely paid for!

To register, simply add INS 100 Section #18821 to your summer schedule. For questions, please contact Insurance Studies Faculty Chair, Lily Davidov at lily.davidov@riosalado.edu.

Here’s to the HSE #RioGrad Class of 2019!

We celebrated the accomplishments of 200+ students who have successfully completed Rio Salado’s GED® test prep classes and passed the GED® test at our annual HSE Graduation Ceremony, Thursday, May 16 at North Phoenix Baptist Church in Phoenix. 

The ceremony was held on #GEDGradDay—a nationwide celebration to recognize the accomplishments of new GED® graduates-- and to inspire other adult re-entry students to fulfill their potential.

Among the guests at this year’s event was Arizona Department of Education’s new Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman, who shared inspirational remarks with guests. Watch her speech now. 

Rio Salado College serves as the principal provider of GED test preparation programs for the Maricopa Community Colleges and the largest provider of adult basic education in the state of Arizona.

This year’s HSE Student Speaker was Javier Cuevas, who decided to earn his HSE diploma to improve his career prospects. 

There are many things in a person’s childhood that can forever shape their future: parents, neighborhoods, peer pressure, cultural and societal influences. All of these left an imprint on Javier Cuevas.

“Growing up in a bad neighborhood takes its toll on the youth,” Cuevas said. “The influences, the peer pressure, the need to fit in. I was never a bad kid. I just made the wrong friends.”

After spending time in juvenile detention, Cuevas had to drop out of high school to move to Mexico with his father.

“I was a 15-year-old American kid living in the most dangerous city in Mexico,” Cuevas said. “One day, a car pulled up on the curb. A man jumped out with a shotgun and pointed it to my head. I thought this was it. It seemed that time froze. Suddenly the driver yelled out, ‘it isn't him’ and sped off.”

The next year Cuevas returned to the U.S. to live with his mother. He had to re-start high school as a 16-year old freshman but caught up to being a senior in two years. However, he dropped out again when he learned he was going to be a father.

“As an adult, I learned that it’s extremely difficult to find a decent job without a diploma,” Cuevas said. Working long hours with low pay and stressing over how to pay bills led Cuevas to finally earn his high school equivalency diploma.

Cuevas credits Rio Salado College for helping him reach his goal.

“The friendly demeanor of the teachers made it easy to adapt and feel comfortable making mistakes,” Cuevas said. “They understood the struggle of balance between work, family, and school. I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Cuevas also thanks his family for seeing him through school.

“I want to thank my wife, who motivated me to go back to school, and my mom, for not giving up on me and being here tonight to see me graduate.”

Cuevas plans to continue his education by studying music business at Mesa Community College.

Thanks to Maricopa Community Colleges Television, you can watch Cuevas speech now and the entire graduation ceremony at youtu.be/3Z_BaiZ7Ye8.

We encourage you to share your grad stories using #GEDGradDay #RioGrad.

Event Photos 

We will share event photos as soon as they’re available via our Facebook account. Additional photos are available for purchase by GradImages® at www.gradimages.com 

Learn more about Rio Salado’s GED® test prep program at www.riosalado.edu/programs/abe.

Phoenix Fan Fusion: Inspiring Education

The Phoenix Fan Fusion is Thursday, May 23 - Sunday, May 26, 2019, at the Phoenix Convention Center. Our Dual Enrollment Team will be representing! 

Phoenix Fan Fusion has a long history of bringing real science to our favorite shows, comics and movies. K-12 students, including many current Dual Enrollment students, will be at Fan Fest this year soaking up their favorite fandoms and learning the science behind them.

Workshops this year will be highlight STEM workshops, biology, psychology, astronomy and much more. Some of the workshops include "Simply Electrical Signals Interpreted by Your Brain: The Ethics of VR," "Adventures and Disasters in Science: How Does Science Get Done Anyway?," and "Cellpai Noticed me!: Science of Cells at Work." 

Our Dual Enrollment team will provide information to various workshops about how Dual Enrollment can help a high school student's academic career.  One of the workshops that will help highlight Dual Enrollment will be "6 Universal Truths of all Successful STEM K-12 Programs," presented by Shawn Hardina on Thursday.

Dress up as your favorite sci-fi charter and join us at the Phoenix Fan Fusion!

Phoenix Fan Fusion

May 23 - 26, 2019

Phoenix Convention Center

100 North 3rd Street

Phoenix, Arizona 85004

For more info: https://phoenixfanfusion.com

Friday Summer Closures Begin May 17

The Maricopa Community Colleges and most Rio Salado locations and services will be closed on Fridays, May 17- Aug. 2 in an effort to conserve energy during the slower summer months.

The following services will be available on Fridays:

• Testing Centers at Tempe, Northern, the Life Long Learning Center in Surprise and the Communiversity at Queen Creek
• Dental Clinic
• All services at the Communiversity at Queek Creek
• Division of Public Service operations: KJZZ 91.5 , K-BACH 89.5 , Sun Sounds of Arizona, SPOT 127 Youth Media Centers
• Rio National

Services normally available 24/7 such as RioLearn, Technology Support Helpdesk, Ask a Librarian and My.Maricopa.edu will remain available. Students are also encouraged to use self-serve enrollment options at My.Maricopa.edu.

The college will resume regular hours Aug. 5. Please visit our locations pages for details about hours of operation for each of our locations.

Have a great summer!

Hiring Hub for #JobSeekers 16-24, May 14

Here's a great opportunity for job seekers ages 16-24! Opportunities for Youth is hosting a Digital Hiring Hub at our Northern location in Phoenix, May 14 to provide free resume and job application guidance. 

Register now: oppforyouth.org/event/2019-digital-rio

We are proud to join Opportunities for Youth, the Maricopa Community Colleges and other community partners n this effort to help Maricopa County youth find gainful employment.

Free and open to all job seekers ages 16-24!

DIGITAL JOB FAIR @ RIO NORTHERN
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
2-6 p.m.
Rio Salado College - Northern 
1715 West Northern Avenue
Phoenix, AZ, 85021