Joe Rodey: Adding degrees at Kish

Posted 4/19/17

Joe Rodey didn’t come to the Computer Science program at Kishwaukee College by the usual routes.

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Joe Rodey: Adding degrees at Kish

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Joe Rodey didn’t come to the Computer Science program at Kishwaukee College by the usual routes. He came with a bachelor’s degree and two minors in hand from Northern Illinois University.
“I wanted to add something to my repertoire that would be useful in any field and make me valuable as an employee,” he said. “Kish is close to NIU, which is where my fiancé is completing her Master’s degree, and I heard good things about it from others who took classes here.”
Originally from Countryside, Joe has a B.S. in Meteorology from NIU with minors in Geography and Applied Mathematics. He is planning to utilize the computer science skills he has gained at Kishwaukee to add to his meteorology degree, though he admits that a career that focusses on one area more than the other is equally welcome.  
It is not unusual that programs in the Career Technology division at Kish draw students like Joe who already have a university degree. The two-year programs or one-year certificates housed in the division with their emphasis on hands-on experience is often the perfect addition to a four-year degree, providing the complementary skills to enhance employability.

Rodey’s experience is fairly typical.
“What I like about the Computer Science courses at Kish is the hands-on approach that instructor David Klick utilizes in his classes,” he explained. “Instead of lecturing in his classes, the students write example programs along with the instructor. The best part of this approach is that many of these programs are in direct response to student questions, which are always emphasized before continuing with new material. This is what makes classes here more valuable than any other computer science classes I have taken elsewhere.”
He is no stranger to the community college experience, having graduated from the College of DuPage prior to going to NIU.  
“I was familiar with the community college framework before I came to Kish and I actually prefer it to the big university style of learning,” he said. “The quality of education in a community college system, in my experience, has been excellent.”
As Rodey prepares to complete his Computer Information Sciences degree at Kishwaukee College, he recommends students planning to pursue a university degree or those, like him, who want a degree program that complements and enhances an already earned degree should consider community colleges, like Kishwaukee.
He stated, “Simply put, I have learned more in these classes at Kish than I have learned in Computer Science classes I have taken in the past. The quality of education is top notch because the instructors are also top notch. And, to top it all off, these classes are transferrable as level 1 and 2 courses at universities.”
For more information on Computer Information Sciences Programs at Kishwaukee College, contact the Career Technologies division at 815-825-9303. For more information on enrollment and registration at Kishwaukee College for Summer or Fall 2017, contact Enrollment Services at 815-825-9375 or at www.kishwaukeecollege.edu/get-kish-now.