Top 10 - Lifetime Learning, Home Design, Martinis, and Oh Yeah - Cheese!
The numbers are in for fall enrollments in MCC's most popular non-credit course offerings. The Community Education and Training Department at MCC provides high quality lifelong learning opportunities to students of all ages. Using a wide array of instructional delivery methods, the program helps students broaden their skills and knowledge in a collegiate environment while responding to regional workforce development needs. The college offers a variety of noncredit courses, certificates and programs designed to reach the broad cross section of interests, ages and needs of our students. Our students include professionals, career changers, middle school students, home school students and active senior citizens.
So without further ado, and with a tip of the cap to the Late Show's David Letterman, in descending order, here are MCC's Top 10 Community Education programs, along with a quick synopsis of each, courtesy of Community Education and Training Program Manager Marci Barnes. We'll do our best to avoid Stupid Human Tricks in the process.
10) MTEL (Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure) Test Preparation - a 10-hour course, this one's mainly attended by educators and students, and is offered on Saturday mornings at both the Lowell and Bedford campuses.
9) Interior Design Certificate - the audience on this one is primarly women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, who might be stay-at home-moms, or might be looking to redesign their homes.
8) Quickbooks - the accounting software class covers 24 hours, is offered in Bedford on Saturdays, and has a really diverse enrollment, comprised of people looking to hone their business or office skills. A big draw for small business owners!
7) The Art of Cheese - if you didn't realize there was an art to cheese, this may be the class for you!
This two-hour class offered at the Concord Cheese Shop in Concord is a huge hit with the male population. Rumor has it attendees leave the class sharp, aged, and stuffed after trying and learning about a whole bevy of cheeses! A grate offering!
6) Writing and Managing Effective Information - the title on that one should be pretty self-explanatory, but this class draws heavily from folks looking to make career changes, particularly in the high-tech environment.
5) Conversational Spanish - this class offered on Tuesday nights in Lowell is muy bueno for those looking to pick up enough pieces of the language to get by with the nuts and bolts - it's a big hit for nurses, construction workers, law enforcement and fire personnel. 
4) Martinis with a Twist - a big hit with the female audience, this class offered at Ricardo's Trattoria in Lowell on Monday nights is a great social event and should tell you everything you need to know about the drink.
3) Home Redesign - a mixed bag of attendees, this class offered on Thursday nights in Lowell by Daley Designs tells folks how to effectively move the contents of your homes around to spice things up. And that doesn't mean just moving the dirty laundry from one room to another!
2) Wine Tasting - not surprisingly, this one's a huge hit with folks, and of late, has drawn a large number of women to the class, which is also offered at Ricardo's Trattoria in Lowell on Monday nights. Word from attendees is that it's developed into a nice night out for friends.
And the number one class in Community Education and Training is:
1) MILES - the Middlesex Institute for Lifelong Education for Seniors offers intellectual stimulation, interaction, and friendship for semi-retired and retired adults. A bunch of courses, but no term papers, exams or grades. The classes are held in Bedford and have a pretty broad spectrum of participants.
And in case you're interested, there's a new offering this semester, starting up on February 21. Planning on selling a home? Interested in the real estate field? Or even the field of interior design? Then learn How to Become a Home Stager, with Debbe Daley, founder of Daley Designs. This course will prepare you to implement techniques of home-staging. Staging is looking at a home "through the buyer's eyes", and not simply decorating and cleaning, but dressing a home for sale. Well staged homes are proven to sell for higher prices than homes that are not staged.
For more information about the Home Stage course, or for any of the other classes in our Top 10, contact Marci Barnes at 781-280-3669.