Not every class offered at Mississippi State University is graded. Some classes are offered just so the students can have fun learning new material.
These unusual classes are part of the Division of Continuing Education’s personal enrichment program, which allows students, faculty and community members to enhance their activities and challenge their creativity.
“We were beginning to get calls from people wanting ‘fun’ classes,” said Valerie Tate, program facilitator for the Division of Continuing Education. “We revisited the past personal enrichment courses we had offered and started them back up again in the fall of 2002.”
The program hosts a variety of courses, including digital camera photography, art craft, beginning pine straw basket weaving, introduction to portraits and caricatures, beginning golf and fresh spring arrangements.
Some of the more popular classes offered are cake decorating I and conversational Spanish.
Tate said she thought the most popular class available is Introduction to Stained Glass, taught by local artist Kathryn Davis, who “does beautiful work.”
Davis, who owns Alley Kat’s Glass in Starkville, said that her class, which met for the first of two sessions Thursday night, teaches students to cut glass into patterns and fuse the patterns together using the Tiffany method of soldering copper wire.
“They can get pretty freaked out when cutting the glass, but it gives them something to take home and say they did,” she said.
Davis attributed the popularity of her class to the fact that there is “just no other place within a 100-mile radius” to take such lessons.
Another class receiving interest is Emma Rodriguez’s conversational Spanish class. Her class is designed for people who want to know the basics of the language for travel and business.
“Nowadays, Spanish is a second language in this country and many people are interested in learning it,” she said. “Being a native speaker, I can teach the language and the culture.”
Rodriguez said her students learn how to say things like “Where is the restaurant?” without learning the grammar.
The $79 class fee includes the book, which Rodriguez said is designed “so they can learn sentences without thinking about the grammar.”
Fresh floral arrangements is a one-time class taught by Jim DelPrince and introduces students to floral designs for their homes. Participants interested in this class, which meets on March 8 from 6 to 8 p.m., are required to bring their own supplies. The deadline for sign up is March 1.
The classes are offered at night and most last for six weeks or less. Fees for the classes range from $49-89 and require a minimum enrollment of 10 students. There are generally no more than 20 people in a class, Tate said.
For full course descriptions and registration, visit www.ce.msstate.edu/pe or call Valerie Tate at 325-8876.