Community, Career, and Technical Education Outreach
TechWorks CNC Training
The Rock Valley College TechWorks programs offers students a customized curriculum in advanced manufacturing within the world of Computer Numerical Control (CNC). Located in the Winnebago County Jail, this program offers currently incarcerated individuals employable skills and certifications needed to advance within the machining industry. The 8-week curriculum begins with a week of job readiness coaching in resume building, workplace ethics/professionalism, and interviewing skills. Following that, the remaining 7 weeks include hands-on experience with CNC programming, set-up and operations and provides students the opportunity to receive 2 nationally recognized credentials from the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS).
Customized Training
(815) 921-2066
Through Customized Training, Rock Valley College offers training, consulting, and specialized resources that are designed to meet the needs of business and industry. Many of the workshops and trainings are held at any of the RVC locations; or on-site at your company/business.
Customized Training also offers on-site training sessions, customized training and programs in the following areas:
• Fanuc and KUKA Robotics Training
• Blueprint Reading
• Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing (GD&T) Training
• Leadership and Supervisor Training
• Computer Training
• Customer Service & Sales Training
• Quality and Safety Training
For more information visit: RockValleyCollege.edu/CustomizedTraining.
Truck Driver Training
(815) 921-2076
In just five (5) weeks you can be on the road to a new career! Our 200-hour truck driver training program combines classroom presentation with hands-on experience that leads to a Class A Commercial Driver’s License.
Offices & classrooms located at Stenstrom Center, 4151 Samuelson Road.
For more information visit: RockValleyCollege.edu/TDT.
Put yourself in the driver’s seat today!
For more information about the Truck Driver Training Program email: RVC-TDT@RockValleyCollege.edu.
Community Education Outreach
Rock Valley College offers non-credit programs and classes, for persons of all ages, whether obtaining a certificate, training, or professional development or seeking personal enrichment. Community and Continuing Education (CCE), Center for Learning in Retirement (CLR), and the Traffic Safety Program are managed within Community Education Outreach.
Traffic Safety
(815) 921-3940
The Rock Valley College Traffic Safety Program provides driver improvement training for a variety of individual, employer-supported, and court-supervised participants.
Supervision Program: The college joins regional courts, local governments, and law enforcement agencies to provide an educational option for minor traffic violations. Motorists who choose class instead of court can keep the violation off their public driving record, avoid higher insurance premiums, and learn effective defensive driving techniques. Classes are offered throughout the seven-county service region.
Employers: Workplace leaders committed to employee and workplace safety choose tailored courses. Participation in driver improvement programs can result in increased productivity, fewer accidents and lower insurance premiums. Classes are designed to coordinate with workplace schedules and locations.
Personal Interest: Individuals attend the program for personal interest and self-development.
For more information visit:
RockValleyCollege.edu/TrafficSafety
located on the Main Campus, Classroom Building II, ground floor.
Community & Continuing Education (CCE)
(815) 921-3900
CCE strives to offer a large and varied selection of educational opportunities. Whether you are seeking personal enrichment or development, we have programs that will fit your busy lifestyle.
CCE offices are located on the Main Campus (3301 N. Mulford Road), on the first floor of Classroom Building II, in room 115.
Courses are offered at the Main Campus, Bell School Road Center, online, and many other convenient locations throughout its district.
For more information, please visit: RockValleyCollege.edu/CCE.
Community Education
Encouraging life-long learning at any age!
Community Education offers courses that help you learn a new hobby or skill, enjoy leisure and recreational activities and benefit from personal enrichment experiences. Designed as non-credit courses, there are no entrance exams and no diploma requirements. We offer classes and workshops for all ages.
Continuing Education
Enhance your skills, your career, your life!
Continuing Education offers courses and programs to help you upgrade your skills with non-degree credit, national certification and courses in business, skilled trades, healthcare, and technology areas. Designed as short-term, non-degree alternatives, these programs do not require an entrance exam for admission.
Note: Financial Aid does not apply to Continuing Education courses.
Whiz Kids
Challenging minds since 1980!
Whiz Kids classes are designed to provide enrichment activities for youth, cleverly disguised as fun, where students learn by doing and supporting each other in the learning process. Kids are inspired to try new things, build independence, gain social skills, face challenges, learn the value of work, and build character. Whiz Kids classes are taught by experienced educators who have a passion for inspiring kids.
The goal of Whiz Kids will always be the same. We are about making sure youth have the time of their lives and create ever-lasting memories. It’s a much
needed break from the rigor of the academic year, where we can make creativity, adventure, thrills, smiles, & plain old good times happen!
Center for Learning in Retirement (CLR)
The Center for Learning in Retirement is a membership organization, open to retired and semi-retired adults (age 50 and over), who enjoy intellectual stimulation and the opportunity to meet new friends. There are short-term courses, often led by members, covering a wide-range of topics, including art, computers, history, sciences, health and wellness, special interests, and more. There are no tests, no grades, and no homework!
Most classes are held at the Bell School Road Center (3350 N. Bell School Road, Rockford, IL 61114) on the southwest corner of Bell School and Spring Brook Roads. Some classes are offered online via Zoom each semester too. Looking for fun and adventure? There are day trips to museums, arboretums, art exhibits, and the theater, scheduled social events, and extended trips.
For more information concerning this exciting lifelong-learning opportunity, visit: RockValleyCollege.edu/CLR or call (815) 921-3931.
Theatre & Arts Park
The Theatre Department is always looking for more talented community members to join in the fun. Call the Box Office at (815) 921-2160 to find out how you can get involved!
Starlight Theatre
(815) 921-2160
In 1967, a group of Rock Valley College students wanted to bring their community to the Main Campus. They hoped to encourage the public to appreciate the beauty of their college’s farm setting, and the students decided that the best way to accomplish this goal was to perform a musical nestled beside the beautiful farm pond. People from the community came out with their lawn chairs and watched the amazing production. That first show on Thursday, August 3, 1967 at 8:30 pm, Finian’s Rainbow, was staged on the college lawn and was billed as Rockford’s “first all-community musical.”
Since the fall of 1967, RVC has brought affordable, outdoor, summer musical theatre to residents of the community.
Times have changed a bit since 1967. Now, audiences no longer bring their own chairs and blankets, but sit in its comfortable 1,041-seat bowl. But it’s not just the venue that’s grown. The past 54 summers, Starlight has become an integral part of the college’s Community Outreach initiatives, not to mention a cornerstone of Rockford’s summer community.
Today, the performance space is no longer a makeshift stage, but a genuine, state-of-the-art theatre, which a Chicago Tribune’s architecture critic called “an engineering wonder.” Bengt Sjostrom Theatre (BST) has since been built, remodeled, and remodeled again, most recently in 2002/2003 – designed by leading female architect and MacArthur fellowship recipient Jeanne Gang (from Belvidere, Illinois, who founded Studio Gang Architects – an architecture, interiors, and urbanism practice in Chicago and New York). An important enhancement for an outdoor summer theatre, Gang designed a one-of-a-kind articulated, 70-foot star-shaped roof that can be opened as audiences look up at the night sky, and closed during inclement weather. A constellation- themed ticket and control booth, and versatile stage house, makes BST truly unique, and the construction/design of the BST resulted in international recognition, as well as moved Rock Valley College into the forefront of leadership for community arts and entertainment.
Starlight Theatre is one of the nation’s largest professionally-produced community theatres. This oldest, continuously operating theatre in Rockford, offers amateur actors, singers, and dancers an opportunity to work under the direction of professional artistic and technical directors. It attracts hundreds of volunteer performers and crew members (totaling over 24,546 people), where they have each given of themselves for our community’s enrichment, and in the process have shared their joy of performing with audiences of nearly 40,000 each season and a total of more than 1,267,000 attendees over the years.
Starlight produces large-scale musicals with casts sometimes reaching into the hundreds! More than 140 shows have taken the Starlight stage, including: Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber’s The Phantom of the Opera and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a new production of Boublil and Schönberg’s Les Misérables, Disney’s Geppetto & Son, Beauty & the Beast, Jesus Christ Superstar, and many more!
Starlight also boasts a distinguished roster of alums including some of the nation’s most gifted performers and technicians: Rockford’s New American Theatre founder J. R. Sullivan; Broadway star and voice of Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Jodi Mazorrati Benson; the late, great Marin Mazzie; Art Director of Hollywood’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Dan Webster; Chairman of NBC Entertainment, Bob Greenblatt; and Broadway Director and Star, Joe Mantello; among many others.
In the future Starlight will be expanding their season beyond four summer musical productions. In the summer of 2018 Starlight launched its new “Starlittle” series. Every year, at the end of the regular Starlight season, Starlight puts on a family production for children and adults of all ages to enjoy together. Starlittle shows feature adult actors preforming for children, something that is unique in the Rockford theatre community. Starlittle’s first show, Cinderella After the Ball, was a smash hit, and hundreds of young children came and experienced their first live theatre performance.
In the fall of 2018, Starlight launched two more theatre series. The first of these, “Starlight Shakes,” is an outdoor Shakespeare production that takes place on the lawn of the Rock Valley College campus. The Taming of the Shrew was Starlight Shakes’ first production, and students and community members from all over brought their lawn chairs and blankets to watch a show on the Ray Castle Stage, a stage designed to be set up and torn down anywhere on campus.
A Charlie Brown Christmas was the launch of the “Starlight Tradition” series, productions for families to experience together during the holidays. The Starlight crew constructed a cabin on the Bengt Sjostrom Stage which housed an audience of 250 people. Each performance sold out, and was a massive success. Families from all over enjoyed this new tradition.”
For additional info, please visit: RockValleyCollege.edu/Starlight.