It’s that time of year again in Oregon where the sun has finally graced us with its presence, and it’s beginning to feel a lot like Summer! You don’t have to be a student, or have school aged children to know that we are quickly approaching the start of another school year.  You see the TV commercials, the shelves at the store are stocked with school supplies, the newspapers are screaming sales for “BACK TO SCHOOL.”

This message is really only pushed around August to follow the traditional school year starts for K-12, and most colleges and universities. The key word in this is “traditional.” These days post secondary education is still one of the best investments you can make, but deciding where to put your investment is the hard part. There are thousands of educational options, from traditional 4-year campus based universities, community colleges, career colleges offering on-campus & on-line focused and accelerated programs teaching you the specific skills for the trade, to schools operating only online.

Sumner College was lucky enough to take part in the Summer publication of the Education Guide (a special quarterly publication by The Oregonian Newspaper). The focus of the guide is to show the variety of “non-traditional” educational options that are available. Post-secondary education cannot be seen as “one-size-fits-all” anymore.  High school seniors in particular are usually deciding on their post high school plans at the beginning of their senior year and this guide highlights a few options for students in the Portland area.

Right now high school juniors and seniors are going through a very real dilemma of what to do next.

• Community college until I figure it out?
• Get away from home and go to a 4 year state school with my friends?
• Can I afford a 4 year private school?
• Military?
• More school? I need to take a break and just work.

The Oregonian’s Special Quarterly Publication (Aug 2012)

To read the full Education Guide online: http://shopping.oregonlive.com/SS/Page.aspx?sstarg=&facing=false&secid=122216&pagenum=1.  Sumner College is covered on page 2, 7 and 8. On page 7 you will read a great interview with Keri Lyn Youkon, a Sumner College Practical Nursing Graduate.  She tells us her story of how she left a high pressure job to care for her sons and decided to be a nurse after her youngest son at 6 months old was diagnosed with cancer.

Sumner College is a career-focused school that has been educating students in the Portland area since 1974.  Sumner offers programs in Paralegal Studies, Court Reporting, Practical Nursing, and Corrections. With only one campus and an online program option for Paralegal Studies, we are able to maintain our focus, which is on the success of Sumner students, graduates, the community and the local businesses that hire our students. Businesses need qualified employees, our students need jobs in lasting careers, and we do whatever we can to help.