It’s not exactly a college campus, but then again it is.
MiraCosta College put its Technology Career Institute on display earlier this month when it offered a “Community Showcase” for the center in Carlsbad.
It blends in well with its business-park surroundings.
But its purpose is educational with dozens of classes being offered to a total of 430-some students, who aren’t taking academic courses but rather learning job skills.
They don’t spend years, but rather months in this school.
All courses wrap up in one semester or less, said Linda Kurokawa, executive director of community education and workforce development at MiraCosta, who has headed the institute, referred to by its initials, TCI, for the seven-and-a-half years of its existence.
Kurokawa was interviewed briefly as she made her rounds at the community showcase, even taking time to help with the baking.
Commercial cooking skills are one thing they teach at the institute.
During the event, in the kitchen filled with shiny pots and pans, instructor Eliza Daly Martin gave out ingredients to visitors and showed them how to make spring rolls.
In a nearby classroom, visitors could taste beer brewed by students.
Signs on the wall attested to the jobs in local breweries (more than 150 in the county) obtained by the students after they had completed the 280-hour TCI course for brew technician, the only one in California recognized by the Master Brewers Association of the Americas.
MiraCosta reports that 85 percent of course graduates get jobs right away. Three have opened their own breweries.
The “classroom” contains silver vats just like those seen in big breweries, except they’re smaller. Carisa Chavez, supervisor for work skills programs, guided visitors through the process and explained that the school cannot sell its product because it doesn’t have a state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) license, but it could give it away.
Chavez said two dozen students currently are enrolled, and they’re making 12 different beers with a distinctive TCI label.
Nearby, a large room contains all kinds of machinery for machining. And there’s another room full of welding equipment. Electronic assembly is taught. Students learn to solder. There’s a program to train engineering technicians.
Student Marcelo Gonzalves demonstrated how an X-ray machine (not the kind used on humans) worked on mechanical parts. In a drill lab, even visitors were warned to wear safety goggles.
And there are computer classrooms, of course.
But all is not heavy machinery — in one classroom, teachers were ready to show off such artistic endeavors as painting and mosaics, which can, of course, also lead to jobs.
The drone pilot and technician course was demonstrated in the parking lot of the building, surrounded by tall trees.
A “student union” is one clue this is a college as well.
For the showcase event, groaning tables of food — spring rolls, of course, but such basics as macaroni and cheese along with countless appetizers and desserts — had been spread out for the visitors.
A four-piece jazz band led by Paul Kurokawa, husband of the TCI director and a music instructor at Palomar College, played for guests, as did guitar students from the school.
Linda Kurokawa said there was an open house soon after the school opened — and the public may tour on Friday mornings — but this was the first time for such a concerted community outreach. She said later that some 240 people came to the campus during the four-hour event.
They included three members of the Carlsbad City Council: Priya Bhat-Patel, Teresa Acosta and Melanie Burkholder.
The MiraCosta College district was represented by trustee Jacqueline Simon.
Kurokawa was happy to receive a citation for the school from Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano. She has been with MiraCosta more than 16 years.
The school is a partnership between the college and the city, which owns the once-vacant building now housing the TCI in a business park off Palomar Airport Road.
Sherman is a freelance columnist. Contact her at [email protected].