Well,
it’s been a year since my first class at the BCAE and I can honestly say, I
think I’ve become addicted to learning...and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
What started off as taking a quick 3 hour introductory course, has become hours
upon hours of learning; from new recipes to drawing body shapes to learning the
ins and outs of everything Google has to offer, the BCAE has a class for
everyone to learn and try something new. Within this past year, I’ve taken over
20 classes and I wanted to share the top 5 classes/teachers that I found to be
my favorite/most valuable.
How It All Began:
New
Year’s 2013 came by and one of my goals, (I don’t like the work resolution,
goals sounds more positive), for the year was to begin to write a blog about
different events and places I attend and visit throughout Boston. I had been
reading blogs for a while and even had begun to write one myself, only to stop
writing and forgetting about it 3 months later, so I wanted to attend a class on
how to start and maintain your own blog. After doing some Google research, I
found a site for the Boston Center for Adult Education and there I found
classes called “Staring a Blog” & “Promoting your Blog”.
Now,
I’ll be the first to admit, the idea of going to some ‘center for adult
education’ didn’t sound very appealing, especially the way I thought. In my
mind, I was picturing a school type atmosphere with chalkboards and those
really unconformable chair desks you had to sit in, in high school. I decide to
give it a shot anyways and signed up for the blogging classes- besides, the
price was very right and the class time was about 2 hours, I didn’t have that
much to lose.
As
soon as I found the BCAE, my mind took back everything it had once thought; this
place defiantly wasn’t your grandmother’s learning annex. The second I walked
in, I was pleasantly surprised by the look and feel of the atmosphere,
everything was very up kept and new and after being greeting by a friendly
front desk worker who showed me to my class, I was even more surprised to see 2
state of the art kitchens, an area that looked like dance/exercise floor and
even a music room. This was defiantly a great first impression of a place that
I would soon be spending a lot of my time at and learning things I probably
never would have it not been for my first class at the BCAE.
1. Staring Your Blog &
Promoting Your Blog:
The
first classes I’ve taken at the BCAE really helped me not only get a sense of
what BCAE was all about, but also to really help get my idea of writing a blog
off the ground. Taught by Sue and Chelsea of We Are Not Martha, a cooking blog,
(another good tip, the teachers are just people off the street, they are actual
professionals who really know what they’re talking about), the class went over
from explaining what a blog actually is, where to write and host your blog and
what to write on your first blog post. Their second class ‘Promoting Your Blog’
focused more on where your should be promoting your blog online, attending
different bloggers networking events and even how to make potential business
partners to blog about their product/services and maybe even make money on the
side. I’m very happy to say, that although it’s not perfect, I’ve been keeping
up with my blogging for almost a year!
2. Cooking with Diane
Manteca
There
are some things that are harder in life than others and for me one of those
things is cooking/baking/anything that is done in the kitchen. It’s not that I
hate cooking; I just have no idea what I’m doing or what half the
ingredients/instructions even mean on a recipe. Enter Diane Manteca, cooking
extraordinaire. Diane has been teaching at the BCAE for 20 years and I’m sure
that every dish she’s made there has been nothing but unbelievably delicious. I’ve
taken a few cooking different cooking classes with her but her specialty is
Italian cooking. (Tip, everything tastes and cooks better with wine!). In 3
hours, you’ll go from hungry and not knowing the difference between a tomato
and pepper, to being completely stuffed with delicious food and knowing every
type of spice actually is and tastes like in your spice rack. P.S- when taking
Diane’s class…always bring Tupperware, you’ll have leftovers for a few days.
3. How to Figure Out Your
Digital Camera/Digital Photography Classes
Another
key to having a good blog is having good pictures. I got a beautiful camera for
Christmas a while back but besides taking it out of the box once or twice, I
really didn’t know how to use it to its fullest potential, which when I saw
“How to Figure Out Your Digital Camera”, I immediately signed right up. Chris
Padgett was the instructor for not only this class but just about all the other
digital photography classes at the BCAE and there is a very good reason why-
he’s absolutely gifted at what he does. He was extremely helpful in leading the
class on how to use everyone’s different digital cameras including mine (Nikon
1, not you ‘professional’ camera but still digital), as well as, how to use the
focus lens and which ISO (light sensitivity) to use for which shots. He also
showed us how to take better photos by choosing one focus point and using your
camera in different angles. Recently, Chris created a photo shoot called “Bled
for Boston”, photos of people who got tattoos done right after the Boston
Marathon Tragedy, which is about to be displayed at the BCAE in the coming
weeks.
4. Baking with the “Bad
Boy” himself, Dustin Rennells
My
first class with Dustin was rather interesting to say the least. My first class
with Dustin called ‘Harvest Cupcakes’ was a delectably delicious take on baking
cupcakes with all the ingredients of autumn. With dozens of cupcakes baked, I
took about 10 cupcakes with me, only problem was, I wasn’t going home, I was
going to the ALCS Game 1 of the Red Sox game. Squished on the T, I made to
Fenway Park to meet my friend, cupcakes still in tow and we made to our cheap
seats for the game. During the game, we spotted a few seats right behind 3rd
base up for grabs; so we went down to snag them. On our way down however,
people started noticing my cupcakes and asking to purchase them. At first I
decided, but the more I decided, the more people wanted these cupcakes.
Finally, I gave in and stared to give away my cupcakes- the sad news of the
story was that I sold all my cupcakes before I could even try one, the good
news, I made $10. Morale of the story, Dustin knows baking and he knows
cupcakes. His cupcake classes are some of the most popular in the baking
series, especially his ‘Cupcakes & Cocktails’ classes, 3 hours of cocktails
and cupcakes…and more cocktails and cupcakes. If you can’t make his class, then
check out his bakeshop Bad Bay Bake Shop in Charlestown.
5. Ingenious Solutions
Series
Like
I had mentioned earlier, the BCAE offers many different types of classes from
cooking to dancing to music and everything else in between which is great
because it gives you the excuse to try everything at least once and learn
something new. That’s where Ingenious Solutions Series comes in, a 3 series
course focusing on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Content Marketing Systems
(CMS) and the free services that Google offers (other than Gmail). I wanted to
take this series to better understand SEO and CMS for my career, as well as, my
blogging. Ben Vivante was a great instructor, going through each subject slowly
and in a way that everyone could understand how to promote our
product/service/company on Google, creating a first time website using Joomla
or Word Press, and better knowledge of Google Analytics, Drives, Calendar, and
Google +. This class really got me interested in learning more about SEO and
creating a better site for my blog, and now I feel confident in that I can
create a more successful and searchable website.
6. What’s Next on the List?
So,
that was just a few of the classes I’ve taken and my experience at the BCAE,
and that doesn’t include their special events from lunch with Big Papi to Local
Love Pop-up Shops, my only question to myself is, “what’s next on the list”?
With new classes being offered in every catalog, I’m always excited to see what’s
available. If I had to choose a couple of classes to try out, I think I would like
to try a basic sewing class, (which would be really funny to watch me actually
try to sew), more photography classes but above all, the classes I’d really like
to attend…wine tastings of course!
Have
you thought about trying or learning something new at the BCAE? Let me know
what you thought, I’d love to hear about it! Hey, you never know, maybe I’ll
see you at your next class!