Moapa Valley CSN Center Gets New Site Coordinator

By GWENDOLYN WEILER

Moapa Valley Progress

Christina Geist, the new College of Southern Nevada (CSN) Site Administrator for Moapa Valley, sits across from Susan Johnson from Logandale. They are surrounded by computers and paperwork inside of this small office trailer beside the Moapa Valley High School football field. Today, Johnson is finally taking her first steps towards going back to college to get her teaching degree.

“I just dropped my son off at college two weeks ago, and my 30-year high school reunion is next weekend,” Johnson said. “I should have done this years ago, but life took weird turns and here I am.”
Geist, who’s lived in Overton for nine years, has been with CSN since March and has recently begun keeping regular hours at te Logandale center. She said that she is excited to serve her community by reestablishing the college’s constant presence here in the Valley.

“It’s really rewarding to see the students who are really excited about their higher education and looking forward to accomplishing so much in their lives,” Geist said.

Several high school students enroll in a dual credit program with CSN each year, which allows them to take select college classes as they also complete their high school credits. However, when the college first established its local presence over 20 years ago, it was exclusively aimed at providing evening college classes to adults, said CSN Mesquite Site Administrator Darlene Montague. Today, the college aims to serve the entire community across all demographics, said Montague.

“We have a lot that we can offer the community,” Montague said. “We’d like to build the evening program back up again as well as offer more classes to the high school students during the day.” Overall, said Montague, CSN would like to see the community take more advantage of the potential opportunities it can bring to the local community. In order for the programs to evolve, said Montague, it would require both community support and a larger staff of local instructors. All instructors are required to have at least a master’s degree in their chosen fields.

Some of the services currently offered in the lab include guidance on how to move into higher education, information on financial aid, placement testing, and proctored testing for students currently enrolled in CSN classes. On the other side of the wall is a formal classroom where students both young and old can attend select day and evening classes. However, said Geist, adult students need to be aware that the day classes coincide with the high school’s block class schedule.

“We have this stigma in our society that when you hit this certain age, you’re somehow incapable of something new or learning new things,” Geist said. “It’s unfortunate that some people believe it because we’re amazing human beings, and we can accomplish anything at any age.”

The Moapa Valley CSN site is open Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. throughout the school year and on select Wednesdays during the summer. The Mesquite CSN site is open Mondays through Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.. For more information call the Mesquite site at 702-346-2485, or the Moapa Valley site at 702-398-7545.