The San Juan College Philosophy

When the people of Farmington, NM find out that I moved here from Chicago, they invariably ask the same question "Why did you move to Farmington?" And I always give the same answer "San Juan College."

I had been unsure of what to do with my life after high school. I spent three years drifting about before I saw my answer in the classified ads in the back of Backpacker magazine: an ad for an outdoor skills school in the Four Corners region which promised cheap tuition. I googled "San Juan College" and read up on it. They weren't kidding about the tuition. The local community college, Waubonsee in Sugar Grove, IL, charged $70 per credit hour, but San Juan College's out-of-state tuition was $40 per credit hour.

Money was not my sole motivation. I had been to the Four Corners area a few years earlier when my family had vacationed in Telluride, CO. I remembered hiking around the various terrains, from the lofty peaks surrounding the box canyon of Telluride to the windswept desert we found closer to the Four Corners proper. I thought San Juan College seemed like a splendid place to hone my outside skills. I have yet to be disappointed.

I have not regretted a single course I have taken at San Juan College. My outdoor classes have involved climbing up in Colorado's San Juan Mountains and hiking through the canyon country of Utah. Numerous special topics courses are offered. I took a class last May where we spent a week in Rocky Point, Mexico building a house with Habitat for Humanity. Even the general education classes, the Englishes and maths, breathe life into learning at San Juan College.

A large reason for this is the faculty. Whether they are full-time or adjunct, the instructors at San Juan College have great passion for what they teach. I've heard stories from classmates about difficult professors, but every class I've taken here has had an excellent teacher. They've all shown a great deal of respect towards their students, and really take an interest in making sure that we learn. Class sizes tend to small, so student-professor interaction is far more common than in the giant lecture halls of four-year universities.