South County residents today can embark on a career path without going far from home, and those opportunities are increasing for students of all ages. Interested in nursing or dental hygiene? Police work? Fire science or paramedics? How about a career in mariachi music? All are offered in South County credentialed or two-year degree programs now, along with lower division courses required for four-year degrees.

And if Chula Vista city officials prevail, future students soon will have a four-year college or university in the eastern developing area. Denny Stone, the city’s economic development officer, says. “It’s at the top of our list; it is a priority.” The city already owns 230 acres dedicated to that purpose and is negotiating to purchase another 200 to 250 acres from current landowners.

“The current budget crisis is not a consideration” in pursuing a new college, he says, and neither is discussion of a San Diego Chargers relocation to Chula Vista. It is not either/or, says Stone, since the city already owns much of the needed property. What kind of school — state college or university or private college — has yet to be determined, Stone says, “but we think the South County deserves a four-year college.”

Until that time, three higher education centers complement Southwestern College’s areas of study, providing signature programs that can lead to immediate employment. The newest of these is the HEC at Otay Mesa, which opened in fall of 2007 with 1,800 students and a capacity for 5,000. Otay Mesa awards two-year degrees in Police Academy, Nursing, Fire Science Technology, Paramedic and Emergency Medical Technician and Environmental Technology, and provides general education, transfer classes and all student support services.

The HEC in National City, which originally opened in limited quarters in 1998, offers a popular high quality dental hygiene associate degree. “It is the only accredited dental hygiene program in the county,” says Virginia Castillo, assistant director, accepting 36 students each year for two years of study and hands-on experience. Since the first graduating class in 2001, students have excelled on the state licensing exam, says Director Christine Perri.

A component of the program is a dental clinic for the public where students perform the services of cleaning, taking X-rays, teaching proper dental health procedures to patients and school groups and classes, all under the direct supervision of licensed dentists and other professionals.

The college’s oldest HEC, opened on the site of a San Ysidro McDonald’s restaurant as a tribute to the victims of a mass shooting there in 1984, has been temporarily closed. Construction of permanent buildings is under way and the center is scheduled to reopen in spring of 2009.

Academic opportunities for South County high school students increased last year with the opening of two specialized high schools. Mater Dei, a coed Catholic high school opened in east Chula Vista, replacing Imperial Beach’s Marian High School, which opened in 1960. Ground was broken for a new High Tech High, also in the eastern portion of Chula Vista, one of two schools under a state charter rather than another school district.

That school also opened last fall with 150 ninth graders in rented space at Mater Dei. Attendance at High Tech High is by lottery and class size is limited to 25 students per teacher. Michelle Aldarte, office manager/registrar, expects the campus to open fully by fall of 2008.

About that two-year mariachi program: Southwestern was the first school in the nation to formalize a mariachi major. “We were first,” director Jeff Nevin says, “but soon after we started, another school copied us.” Nevin developed and designed it to lead to a four-year degree in music. Nevin became interested in mariachi while growing up in Tucson. About 25 years ago, when the style became popular, many junior highs, high schools and colleges began offering a few scattered classes.

“Now mariachi teachers are in great demand everywhere,” Nevin says. If his students don’t want to teach, Nevin tells them to play for special engagements or in restaurants. “It makes a good second job.”