This January I was afforded the opportunity to attend Reedley College’s State of The College breakfast and address. This year the address was held in the beautiful new McClarty Center for Fine and Performing Arts. The breakfast company was lighthearted, and the food was really good (and plentiful!).
This was my first experience with the State of the College address, and I found it to be very educational. If you’re not familiar with what the address consists of it is an opportunity for the president of Reedley College, Dr. Jerry L Buckley to talk to staff, community members, and college sponsors about the college’s yearly status report. He gives a speech about finances, programs, events, and awards that the college hosted or been a part of for that year.
Dr. Buckley addressed the college budget and statistics on how many students were served in the 2023-2024 school year. Overall, 15,555 students were served at Reedley College. They held a course retention rate of 94% and a success rate of 77% which is outstanding results and up from previous years. Furthermore, he explained that Reedley College on average is growing at a rate of 6.4% per year in terms of students who are graduating, transferring, or receiving certificates/awards. This means that every year more and more RC students are succeeding.
Additionally, something interesting was noted during Dr. Buckley’s presentation that I think should be mentioned. The leading group of successful college students are those who are playing sports for Reedley College. They attribute this success to the strict academic requirements that the athletes are required to meet. Part of this includes mandated study time and meetings with tutors. These suggests that if students would prioritize spending a set amount of hours every week utilizing the free and very available tutor and study resources provided by Reedley College, we could potentially see an increase in student success rates.
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