<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge) For the Enterprise/Michael Naiman Colleen Heins (right) interacts with Jeramly Chavez at the Shoreline Family Support Center in Shoreline, Nov. 14, 2008. Heins is doing a practicum at the center through a worker retraining program at Edmonds Community College. (click to enlarge) For the Enterprise/Michael Naiman NOTE: Please don't use photos 1 and 2 together. ----------------------------- Colleen Heins (left) interacts with Evelina Guisleman (middle) and Michael Ibrahim (right) at the Shoreline Family Support Center in Shoreline, Nov. 14, 2008. Heins is doing a practicum at the center through a worker retraining program at Edmonds Community College.

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CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, Copy editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

After losing jobs, locals seek new careers

By Sarah Koenig
Enterprise reporter

When Colleen Heins of Lynnwood was laid off from her job at Washington Mutual's call center, she was devastated.

"I made good money and enjoyed my team," she said.

Now Heins is training to be a family advocate in a program at Edmonds Community College.

"It turned out to be a mixed blessing," she said of losing her job. "I had felt like I was too old to go back to school."

Heins is one of thousands statewide who are flocking to community colleges to retrain for new jobs after being laid off.

Statewide, community college enrollment is up to 133,000 students, from 125,000 last fall, the highest enrollment for decades. Officials from the state Board for Community and Technical colleges blame the down economy in large part for the uptick.

Locally, enrollment is up about 7 percent at Shoreline and Edmonds community colleges compared to last fall.

"When unemployment goes up, our numbers go up," said John Michaelson, vice president of college relations at Edmonds Community College.

"We see all kinds of people being laid off," said Gina Certain, director of the worker retraining program at Edmonds Community College.

The state program helps people who've lost jobs or struggle in home businesses pay tuition to get retraining. Certain meets with people interested in the program, and her schedule has been packed lately.

"Macy's had a big layoff, the mortgage companies…(I see) a lot of real estate agents who are self employed and now saying, 'I haven't had a pay check in three months, six months,'" Certain said.

Michelle Richards of Snohomish found herself talking with Certain after she was laid off from her job in the buying office at Macy's in May.

Richards didn't think it made sense to stay in retail buying when the 700 people in her office laid off with her would also look for new jobs.

Richards used to coach gymnastics and she started thinking about what to do next.

"The weekend I was thinking about it, I was working with kids at church and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I miss kids,'" Richards said.

Now she's at Edmonds Community College studying early childhood education to be a preschool or kindergarten teacher.

Several of her friends at church have been laid off from other jobs, she said.

Matthew Serrao, 34, of Everett was a computer programmer