CPTC Celebrates International Education Week

In celebration of this week’s International Education Week (Nov. 12 - 16), I’d like share with you some interesting facts and the history of the international education at CPTC.

CPTC’s International Education Today

 1.    We are serving currently serving: 36 (enrolled 29, engaging in practical training 7)

·       Enrolled at Lakewood Campus: 7

·       Enrolled at South Hill Campus: 22

  

2.    Countries of origin of current international students:

·       China: 21

·       South Korea: 11

·       Japan: 2

·       Vietnam: 1

·       Thailand: 1

3.     Gender of current students

·       Male: 31

·       Female: 5

4.     Programs of study among currently enrolled students (Fall 2012)

·       Aviation Maintenance Technician

·       LPN

·       Interior Design

·       Computer Information Technology

·       General education classes (graduation requirement or prerequisite)

History of International Education at CPTC

I’ve discovered that CPTC has been serving international students from around the world since 1971, when CPTC was Clover Park Vocational Technical Institute! It could be earlier, but from the old student files that were transferred to the International Programs Office a couple of years ago, the oldest files in the box were dated 1971. That is nearly 40 years ago!

As far as I can tell from these files (and please know that this is not 100% accurate, but I think we still can get a good picture), CPTC had served approximately 425 international students from 63 different countries. If I include those students who applied but never attended, students from 76 different countries wanted to attend CPTC. To put this in perspective, the U.S. Dept. of State recognizes 195 independent countries around the world, so someone from one third of the entire world chose CPTC for their education in the past 40 years!

 

I’d like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank some of those CPTC staff that have served as international student advisors in the past:

·       Franclyn Heinecke

·       Hewa Schwan

·       Ron Wright

·       Laurie Clary

·       Linda Wight

·       Mary Mauermann

·       Ted F. Cooley

The added bonus from gathering all this information was that I could come across some of the OLD programs that CPTC had offered in the past. Some of them are….

·       Fashion Design & Sewing Specialist

·       Stenographer

·       Bartender

·       Library Technician

·       Hotel/Motel Operation Specialist

·       Industrial Sewing

·       Travel Consultant

·       Offset Reprographic/Printer

·       Portrait & Commercial Photographer

·       Technical Illustration

·       Marine Machinery

I’d also like to thank my work-study student Elaine Grande and the International Office staff Carmen Sterba for their help gathering the information! Thank you!

I’ll send out more e-mails throughout this week to celebrate international education, so stay tuned!

Yuko Chartraw

Program Specialist

International Education Programs