Wharton County Junior College Human Services Program students participate in a recent classroom exercise. Foreground, from left, are Lashawna Thomas of Wharton and Yolanda Gomez of Sugar Land. Background, from left, are WCJC Human Services Program Director Victoria Schultz, Erika Medrano Zepeda of Needville and Esly Morales of Lane City.
WHARTON, TEXAS – Wharton County Junior College’s Human Services Program has been recognized as one of the top two-year programs in the nation.
Earlier this year, HumanServicesEDU.org – an on-line resource for those interested in pursuing education and careers in the Human Services field – listed WCJC’s program as one of the Top 10 schools in the nation for obtaining a high quality and cost affordable associate’s degree in that field.
“We assessed hundreds of schools around the nation to find Human Services programs that we are excited to list as the best of the best,” said Kelly Simpson, HumanServicesEDU.org’s managing editor. “We created this list to help potential students find objective information about each program and bring recognition to top quality programs.”
According to the HumanServicesEDU.org website, WCJC’s program was singled out for providing “outstanding” services like on-line and face-to-face tutoring, a 96 percent student retention rate, a 100 percent graduate success rate and an affordable cost.
Victoria Schultz, director of WCJC’s Human Services Program, said the college’s program is the only one in the state of Texas to be nationally accredited through the Council for the Standards of Human Service Education (CSHSE). According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, WCJC’s Human Services Program has a 100 percent employment rate within two years of graduation – a feat many other community colleges in the state have been unable to match.
“That’s higher than any other Human Services Program in the state of Texas,” Schultz said. “I am excited this program has been recognized for such an honor.”
The Human Services Program began in 2005 and is geared toward training mental health workers, offering both a certificate and an AAS degree. Schultz said most students continue their education after graduating WCJC, either pursuing a bachelor’s degree at a four-year university or entering a social work program at another college. Those interested in entering the workforce instead find careers as human service workers, case manager assistants, social work assistants, community support workers, mental health assistants, community outreach workers, life skills counselors, gerontology assistants and probation officer assistants.
“Human Services is a broad field allowing one to work with individuals of all ages and various walks of life,” Schultz said. “The program focuses on assisting individuals in a variety of ways.”
Coursework includes classroom study as well as hands-on sessions at clinical sites. These sites include Texana, the Richmond State Supported Living Center, the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office, the Matagorda Women’s Crisis Center, the Fort Bend Regional Council on Substance Abuse, the Wharton County District Attorney’s Office, the Wharton County Juvenile Probation Department, the Brazos Place Behavioral Health Center and several others.
For more information on the program, visit the college’s website – www.wcjc.edu – or contact Schultz at victorias@wcjc.edu or call 979-532-4560.
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