Delgado College and Career Readiness Class Concludes at Café Reconcile

November 25, 2019

November 7, 2019 was an exciting day at Café Reconcile. It was the last day of the 12-week college-level course called “Bridge to College: College and Career Readiness” held at Café Reconcile. This class was made possible through a partnership between Delgado Community College and Café Reconcile, with support through a grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Additionally, Liberty’s Kitchen was a secondary partner, as some of their trainees participated in the class. 

During this final day of the course, there was a celebration and students presented their vision board projects. They showed confidence and excitement as they showcased their work, demonstrating soft-skills and public speaking skills they learned during the class. The proud students were presented a Certificate of Completion, some Delgado swag, and a brand-new MacBook, courtesy of Liberty’s Kitchen. Among so many notable factors about the class, there was 100% persistence from start to finish. Every student who finished was there from the very beginning and that is a huge success to be celebrated.

This marks the first time a college class has ever been taught at Café Reconcile. It was based on a similar class at Delgado, College and Career Success Skills 107, and was taught by Delgado instructor Jasmine Mastin. Not only were students able to take the class for free, but they also received free materials, including a textbook, binder and daily planner. The daily planner helped to provide a backbone to the curriculum as a central component of the class was time-management skills, and students were expected to keep track of their schoolwork and their lives in the provided daily planner.

Students learned valuable study skills, about different learning styles, and homed in on their own personal learning styles to help them be better students. Students learned note-taking and research skills, setting them up for future courses at Delgado or elsewhere. They also worked on job-readiness and soft skills, resumes, cover letters, and mock interviews in the class. The course culminated in their final project, their vision boards, which pulled from their personal goals and passions that were refined in the course. For some of them, this was the first time they presented substantial work in front of an audience.

Academic coaching was another crucial part of the course. Teacher Jasmine provided the coaching as well, and students received three coaching sessions throughout the 12 weeks. She discussed with them future academic and career goals as well as where they are in their lives and any barriers they might be facing.

Finally, this class was offered as a non-credit course with the eligibility to gain three Delgado credits upon enrollment and yields a “P” for pass. Students must go through the college LEAP process for prior learning credits and were provided with detailed instructions and sample forms to facilitate the process. Students will ultimately provide a portfolio of their work as well as their certificate of completion to gain the much-deserved credit for the class.

Café Reconcile is committed to this ongoing partnership with Delgado Community College and a second class is already being planned for 2020.