Community awareness plays big part in enrollment
By Betsy Avelar Staff Writer
Gilroy – Diana Wallace already canceled one of her art classes in June because of a lack of enrollment. Now, she’s hoping she can fill the spaces in her classes for the end of July and August.
This year, enrollment for classes offered through the community services department to the community is lower than most years. One of the reasons is the lack of awareness of the classes since the catalog was published earlier than in past years.
“It’s something new, were actually trying to put our guide out early,” said Cathy Mirelez, recreation supervisor for Cultural Arts and Museum.
For many years the city has offered classes to the community, and Wallace has been teaching for three decades.
“I decided I wanted to work with all ages of children who wanted to learn art, where I could teach them for a longer period of time without having to worry about grades,” said the professional artist. Every summer she teaches art camps for the city and although they are only a week long, she is able to teach a student the importance of observing and seeing things differently artistically.
“What I’m really interested in is filling up my classes for the summer,” said Rowena Hart who also teaches one-week long cheerleading and gymnastics camps for the summer.
Classes for the community based on the need and interest. Anyone wanting to teach a class can fill out an application, but the decision of whether to conduct the class will be based on whether there is a need for it, Hart said.
Details: Mirelez at 846-8836.
