 Hello, my name is Joe Smith. Welcome to the show today. We have Laura Trubeck program manager from ace. How are you doing Laura? I'm well. How are you? I'm good. Good. So for everyone that doesn't know what ace is what does ace stand for? Ace stands for adult and community enrichment Which means we are obviously limited to adults ages 18 and over and for enrichment classes fun classes Of course. So is ace part of it Suncoast Technical College? It is. We are the Division of the college that focuses on enrichment classes things that aren't Workforce development based the rest of the college is Everything to do with the rest of the college is preparing people for the workforce. Our program prepares folks just to have fun Sounds really nice. So how many students do you have? We're a really large program. We have Averaged over 12,000 registrations a year for each of the last couple years. Wow Wow, that's That's pretty amazing. So how many classes are offered and where are they? Most of our classes are here on the Suncoast Campus here in Sarasota But we have classes in the Venice campus and the Northport campus And then we're in about 12 other locations around the county at some of the YMCA's various retirement facilities We even have a class on a sailboat down at at the marina down at marina jack I might take that class myself. It's a pretty cool class and we run somewhere around 12 2000 classes a year. We have about 600 running this session. Those were like classes are offered We have Four sessions a year fall winter spring and summer. So we're a year-round program and So we offer classes all over the place all the time. Okay, what during those times? What classes are offered? We run the gamut from belly dance to Watercolor to small engine repair. We have a home sweet home repairs Bike maintenance just pretty much anything that we can think of that we think people would like to learn more about We we can do it. Okay, and all those classes. What is most popular? a lot of our watercolor classes are very popular acrylics any of those kinds of things, but sometimes we have some unexpected Popular things that we try this time We have a couple coloring for adult classes because there's this whole craze out there about adult coloring books. So those classes filled with weightless right away Another one that was a surprise is the first time we offered harmonica. It sold out with a weight list right away So we just never know and sometimes people are totally shocked by the kinds of classes that that fill up a harmonica class Harmonica. Yes. Now that class is taught by Les McCurdy most people know less for his Comedy club, but he also was an awesome blues harmonica player. So he does our harmonica classes down at his club Wow, so How do you find these teachers like the harmonica teacher? How do you find this? Well, I'm a pretty Gabby person thankfully so Nobody's ever safe for me anywhere. I'm always talking about ace and keeping my eyes open for new teachers But a lot of them find us as well because I I probably get somewhere in from 10 to 20 Unsolicited resumes every month from people who want to teach for ace because ace has a pretty good reputation out in the community nice nice and How much these classes cost? We are a completely fee supported class. So we have to charge what Whatever fee will cover the cost of the teacher and the equipment and supplies But classes range from we might have a $15 class all the way up to a $300 class You know classes in our clay studio are our most expensive because clay is expensive and the equipment is expensive And and so forth. So we try to stay as competitive as possible We want to be affordable, but stay in business Okay Are there scholarships offered? We do. Yes, we do have scholarships. We have an up to 50 percent scholarship People can go on our website and find that application or give us a call and we'll we'll work with them All right Now I heard about classroom on wheels. What is that? Ace has our own school bus that's painted blue and it's called classroom on wheels and essentially what it is is Field trips for adults half-day field trips for adults that go out once a week Throughout any throughout the community. So they one time they went up to the Airport control tower They've gone to when when this campus opened for the first time They were one of the first groups to come in and look at it same with Sarasota High School with architecture They go up to Port Manatee. They go to Cortez Village They they basically go anywhere. They think people would be interested in going the kind of things you can't really do on your own are things they do and It's been running for Over 25 years and they never repeat a topic unless something about that topic has changed substantially Wow, that's that's really amazing. It's it's very cool And we have some people who've been haven't missed a session in 20 years. I know I wouldn't if I had to go those places Yeah, it's for they're pretty cool. So how do you register for ace? We try to make it very easy We have a website which is ace dash Sarasota com and You can register online or you can give us a call at three six one six five nine zero and You can register over the phone. We have you know, all our folks are knowledgeable and can help guide you Or you can walk into the office on the Suncoast campus and register that way as well Okay, and do you have to be a Florida resident for ace? No, you do not we don't have any residents requirements We are part of the school district And the school district provides us space which is incredible here on Suncoast. We have all this great new space But anybody any adult over 18 can take our classes. That's nice now Is there anything we haven't discussed with between you me that you want to say anything about I don't think so except Anybody who wants to try dabbling at something, you know, if they have an interest in an art class or Meditation or yoga. We're a really easy way for people to Give give something a try and meet like-minded people because if you're taking a class in understanding film for example You're gonna be in that classroom with other people who have that same interest So it's a great way to meet other people and learn and expand your brain and so forth. So that's that's amazing Well, thanks for joining us today on the show for more information Walk on to a stat a stat Sarasota comm or call 941-361-6590 or find them on Facebook Thank you so much for our treat back