Colleges/ Campus scene

MISSION VIEJO

College Library Cards Available

South County residents can gain access to thousands of books and periodicals from an unexpected place.

Residents within the Saddleback College boundaries may purchase a six-month community library card for $10. Area non-students may check out four items for a three-week period using their community card.

Card applicants must be 18 or older and prove local residency with a driver’s license or utility bill. Overdue fees are $5 per item.

Services within the library, including magazines, audiovisual materials and reference books, are free for use by local residents. The library does not collect children’s books, popular reading materials or genealogical sources. The district’s boundaries run from Irvine south to San Clemente.

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CYPRESS

Workshops Focus on Learning Skills

Here’s a chance to learn how to learn. Cypress College is sponsoring a series of free workshops during the fall semester to help students succeed in their classes.

Called the Doorways to Discovery Workshop Series, the first event will be at 1 p.m. next Thursday in the college Humanities Lecture Hall. Patrick O’Brien, who teaches English, will lecture on “Writing Skills for Students.” College officials said that students who find themselves challenged by essay tests, term papers and reports will find the workshop especially helpful.

Additional information about the free workshops is available by calling (714) 826-2220, Ext. 120.

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FULLERTON

Program Helps Boost Teachers’ Confidence

Thirty teachers are doing some studying of their own. The beginning secondary teachers are participating in a new self-confidence building program that began this fall at Cal State Fullerton.

Project START (Support and Training to Achieve Retention of Teachers) involves improving beginning teachers’ skills, knowledge and abilities, and encourages teachers to stay in the profession, university officials said.

The teachers participating are from six high schools in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District.

The state Department of Education awarded the district a $217,261 grant for the one-year program.

The grant pays for a Cal State Fullerton professor, tuition and book costs for the teachers. A coach assigned to each teacher observes them in their classes and helps them plan and evaluate lessons.

“The university and the (high school) district are working together to help our teachers be the best that they can be,” Project START director Lynda E. Randall said in a press release.