When Suhai Boyer graduates this spring from Riverland Community College, she will be among the first outstate students to earn an associate’s degree in Translating and Interpreting (TRIN) through a program offered jointly by Riverland and Century College in White Bear Lake, Minn.

The TRIN program has been offered since 2010 through interactive television (ITV) classes where students take classes in specially equipped Riverland classrooms and are able to interact with their teachers and colleagues at the Century College in White Bear Lake.

The number and types of classes have evolved over the years. On May 14, Century and Riverland are offering information sessions at noon and 1 p.m. at the Riverland’s Austin Campus in Room C108 of the East Building to discuss the program, which offers training that meets the needs of seasoned interpreters as well as those who are bilingual but have no interpreting experience.

Boyer, who was already doing some interpreting work when she began taking classes at Century, says the training has paid off. “The TRIN program prepared me as a professional and as a person. It increased my chances of finding a job in this field. It has opened more doors for me in terms of having a successful career in translating and interpreting,” Boyer said.

Boyer has already begun to see positive results from the TRIN program that was offered to respond to needs in the increasingly diverse community of the Austin area. “The TRIN program prepared me as a professional and as a person. It increased my chances of finding a job in this field. It has opened more doors for me in terms of having a successful career in translating and interpreting,” Boyer said.

“For example, I recently interviewed for an on-call position and the employer said that what caught their eye was the fact that my resume showed my TRIN degree, and this made a very good impression on them,” she said.

In her classes, Boyer and her Riverland classmates would sit in a classroom equipped with interactive television (ITV) equipment that uses special cameras and projectors. From their classroom, they could talk to their instructors and classmates at Century College “face to face,” just as if they were in a physical classroom. Occasionally, their Century teachers travel to Riverland and conduct a class session from there.

Riverland and Century have partnered to train bilingual students for interpreting and translating careers in Austin and other communities served by the college so they can meet the increasing demand for trained interpreters across the state. Riverland Community College has responded to community needs by partnering with Century to offer a 30-credit TRIN certificate and a 60-credit Associate of Applied Arts degree.

In the last 3 years, as a response to the increasing need for interpreter training, enrollment in Century College’s TRIN program has doubled, and the college has hired new faculty members and added new courses. Moreover, because demand for continuing education in this field is extremely high across the state as well, the program also offers a few of its courses for non-credit through Century’s Continuing Education and Customized Training; some of them fully online.

“We are very excited about the TRIN partnership with other colleges across the state of Minnesota, which provides prospective bilingual students the opportunity to train for a growing and rewarding career,” said Cristiano Mazzei, TRIN program director at Century College.

Translators and interpreters were ranked as one of the Best Social Services Job by US News Money (http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/interpreter-and-translator) with the main reason being that, “as diversity in the United States increases, so too does the demand for spoken-language interpreters, “ according to the website. It also made the list of “Eight Secure Jobs Worth Landing this Spring and Beyond,” with an estimated growth of 42% from 2010 to 2020 by Fox Business online (http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2013/03/27/eight-secure-jobs-worth-landing-this-spring-and-beyond/).

For more information call Peggy Young at 507-433-0602 or email peggy.young@riverland.edu.