Christa Resides Marina Side

San Rafael, Marin County California

I was launched and had the mast re-stepped simultaneously late last week. I've had a great experience using San Rafael Yacht Harbor for all my boating needs. I saved some dough by switching last minute to SRYH in lieu of KKMI shipyard.

San Rafael Yacht Harbor

 I'll wait a bit to give more details on my surroundings and other boat related issues. Suffice to say now, that it is wonderful to be in a slip, in a marina with 3 Starbucks, 1 Peets Coffee, 1 Whole Foods, 1 Trader Joe's and a Border's all less than a mile away. Convenience is well convenient.

Admissions Office Dominican University of California

 Speaking of convenient. I've managed to situate my living arrangements within a mile of Dominican University campus. And what a campus it is. Pictured above is the admissions office. The best way to describe the campus is to say it's like walking around an arboretum. The campus resides among huge Red Woods, with small wooden bridges spanning stream beds and wooden benches sprinkled through out. Large groomed grass lawns circled by restored buildings from the late 1890's, to ultra modern multi-million dollar science and engineering centers.

A student can't help but glide down what amounts to the Yellow Brook Road. The Humanities Chair, Dr Harlen remarked to me during our skull session that the campus is a major selling point. And it is. I felt pretty smart just striding and gliding around.

Science Center

 Since splashing Christa, I've been up to the university several times to meet with my academic adviser to map out my future. Here is some detail on what I have gotten myself into. I have entered a program called Pathways. Pathways is an adult education driven program designed for working adults with more than six years of post high school employment and at least 50 transferable credits. But here is the bonus. Given Dominicans small size (roughly 2500 students total) it allows the school mucho flexibility and one on one instruction and advice. The Pathways program has several paths to choose from. One path involves what they call a cohort. 25 adult students form a cohort and follow a course of instruction that is set in stone, both academically and schedule wise. The cohort stays together for two full years and graduate with an Applied Humanities Degree. Emphasis on applied. With heavy guidance from several Professor's, the cohort applies in the real world things they are taught while in class. The cohort decides on the direction or emphasis in consultation with the PHD people. For example, one of the classes is a Sustainable Communities class. So somewhere along the line the cohort will devise a project involving sustainability and apply it in the community, document it and then give a presentation on the results. While all this stuff sounds pretty cool I have decided to go in a  more traditional direction.

I am in the Pathways Flex program, which still is an adult type program, but allows me to take classes during the day with the younger traditional crowd, hence the word flex. I will earn a Humanities and Cultural Studies degree with an emphasis of my choosing in consultation with the academic adviser. What is going on is, the university pokes and prods the student (me) to try and flush out what the career goal is post degree. Armed with this information, a set of instruction is crafted to give the student the most cutting edge information and the degree to go with it; so the student is uber marketable and prepared. But, the university has built in flexibility, so as the student is exposed to multiple fields of study (and in turn future occupations) a course correction is possible. For example, I think I'd like to be a teacher. In the near term I will be exposed to some classroom scenario and if I decide it's not my gig and I would like to explore the world of start-ups in Silicon Valley, a business degree plan is easily implemented. Clearly the earlier things are identified the more expeditious the education and the less money spent.

Having said all that, my initial thought is an emphasis on philosophy and pre-Law or maybe history. It simply is to early for me to make decisions. But I have registered for my first term starting August 23, 2010. My three classes are Foundations of Adult Learning, Advanced Writing and Critical Inquiry and an Art Class for a total of 9 credit hours. But during the term I will also be writing an essay that could be credited as 3 credit hours if it is up to snuff. So maybe I'm taking a full course load deemed 12 credits. Depends on how you look at it. The essay can be deferred and is part of the flex in case a new student is overwhelmed after not being in college for perhaps many years.

This is the culmination of one goal and the beginning of a new one. I have such a deep satisfaction after registering today for my coming program. It was no small step to decide while in the Eastern Caribbean to change direction, apply to school, get accepted, work the financial piece and then journey to San Rafael. It took over a year to accomplish just that aspect. I must continue to plow ahead and make the best decisions with the information at hand.

I'll report soon on the many other things I have been doing or thinking about.

Capt Chris

PS: Fully 3/4 of the student population is female. I may need a course of instruction on how to negotiate that fact.