News
The Staff and Students of Rancho Cielo are constantly learning, participating in the community at large, and making a difference.
Click here to find out what Rancho Cielo events are coming up soon.
Come to a Prospective Student Open House
At Rancho Cielo, young people can earn their high school diploma and a vocational certificate for free. Come to one of our Prospective Student Open Houses to learn more. The Open Houses will be held every Tuesday until the end of the semester. New students can apply throughout the year.
Space is limited due to social distancing protocols so please RSVP with Edna Valdez, Outreach and Recruitment Coordinator, via email at evaldez@ranchocieloyc.org . No drop ins will be allowed.
Community college education is evolving – along with the jobs it’s training students for.
The ag industry’s appetite for skilled workers is also being filled by another institution. At a distance of 20 minutes by car from Alisal is the Rancho Cielo Youth Campus, a school for underserved and disconnected youth. Earlier in August, Rancho Cielo opened the Ted Taylor Ag Vocational Center, becoming the third such training hub, in addition to a construction academy and a culinary academy. (These programs each enroll up to 40 students at time.)
Read the full story by Asaf Shalev on MontereyCountyWeekly.com .
DCA students assisted chefs at Markon's Chef Summit
Markon hosted their Chef Summit at Rancho Cielo this past July. Drummond Culinary Academy students assisted chefs and gained valuable firsthand experience from leaders in the field.
Read more about the event here:
Chefs convene at Markon summit to focus on plant-forward dishes
Rancho Cielo aims to grow ag-tech skills for Salinas-area youth with new program
A fresh crop of students will spend the next 10 months learning to fix and maintain industrial food processing equipment as part of a new Rancho Cielo program that started Tuesday.
The Ted Taylor Ag-Vocational Center will train students at a new building with classrooms and a replica of a food-processing plant's floor and refrigeration unit so students learn hands-on, said Susie Brusa, CEO of Rancho Cielo.
Read the full story by Joe Szydlowski in the Salinas Californian here .
Rancho Cielo chosen as an adopted charity at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering
Rancho Cielo was chosen as an adopted charity at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering. We are so thankful to The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering and to Quail Lodge & Golf Club.
Check out the coverage in the following articles:
The Quail features luxury from tickets to tail pipes
Thousands flocked to the Quail Motorsports Gathering in Carmel
The cars, the shows and the dreary economic warning—a look back at Car Week.
A new program at Rancho Cielo aims to give high schoolers employable skills in the ag business.
High school in the traditional sense wasn’t for Kassandra Martinez. During her freshman and sophomore years at Everett Alvarez High School, she decided to just stay home, figuring her mom wouldn’t notice because she’d already left for work.
But that plan caught up with her, and Martinez started looking for an alternate path. That path led her to Rancho Cielo, where next week she will enroll in the first class at the nonprofit’s newest academy for agricultural mechanics and electrical.
Read the full story by Sara Rubin in the Monterey County Weekly ...
Rancho Cielo unveils brand new ag facility and program
Rancho Cielo is opening their new Ted Taylor Ag Vocational Training Center. The new facility will offer Ag Mechanics and Electrical training, giving students hands on experience and a behind the scenes look into the Ag industry.
“They will be learning the fundamentals of refrigeration, HVAC systems, basic and more advanced classes in electrical,” said Cecilia Romero, the deputy director for Rancho Cielo. “They’ll learn how to apply those skills by using the machinery they’ll find out in the industry.”
Read the full story on KSBW.com .
Family Fun Day is August 25
Family Fun Day is on Sunday, August 25 from 10 am - 2 pm. There will be food, performances, bounce houses. face painting, and more. Admission is FREE!
Rancho Cielo Founder Featured in Agile Aging
Curious about how Rancho Cielo came to be? Wondering about where we are going next? Check out this profile of our founder Judge John Phillips in Agile Aging where he talks about the challenges he faced before construction even began and the future of the Ranch.
Performance from Carmel Bach Festival leaves RC students wanting more
The Carmel Bach Festival has an annual residency in the spring semester every year. They bring a broad selection of musical performances to Rancho Cielo to inspire students to connect, to explore emotions, and to enjoy. This particular presentation had the students requesting encore after encore.
Special thanks to: Edwin Huizinga, violinist Erin Carey, aerialist Hanif Wondir, DJ