South Coast College in Orange, CA, has one of the nation's most productive court reporting programs producing 74 Certified Shorthand Reporters in the last four years. While many schools tout their 100 percent pass rate of having 1 candidate a year pass the California CSR, South Coast College continues to achieve record numbers of candidates graduating and passing the test. For this reason, South Coast College is a source for court reporters nationwide.
South Coast College Produces the Highest Number of Certified Shorthand Reporters in the State
South Coast College graduates are helping to fill the growing number of vacancies in officialships nationwide, Recent officialship hires are Priscilla Mireles, CSR, Los Angeles County, CA; Kaitlyn Lancaster, CSR; Orange County, CA; Trisha Wiener, CSR, Riverside County, CA; and Nancy Krueger, North Dakota. If you are interested in learning about becoming an official court reporter, click South Coast College and Get Info Now.
South Coast College, a little niche college in Orange, CA,surprisingly produces an amazing number of entrepreneurs primarily because of the programs that it offers (court reporting, paralegal, and medical assistant), and the assistance it gives to students to develop their entrepreneurial skills. What is more amazing is that these alumni return to share their expertise on an ongoing basis with the students, faculty, and staff of the college. South Coast College was lucky to have some of these people recently at its symposium in December. The alumni who attended consisted of court reporting agency owners, the author of the Lifehacker article on court reporting, and a paralegal graduate who owns a paralegal agency.
The court reporting program is a natural for entrepreneurship because court and deposition reporters often start out as independent contractors and build relationships to where they are able to start their own agencies. In this symposium, a number of the alumni who spoke began that way. Stephanie Leslie, CSR, began as a deposition reporter. She and her husband, Isaiah Leslie, decided to expand to enable Stephanie to have a family and to not report as much. Together they established one of the leading court reporting firms in Orange County, Regal Court Reporters. The very popular Valadez twins established their reputations as great reporters in distinct fields. Whitney became an Official Court Reporting in Los Angeles reporting many of the high-profile cases, including: the McCourt divorce trial, trials of Mel Gibson, Brittany Spears, and others. Kamryn became a sought-after deposition reporter. Eventually, they decided to join forces and create their own agency, Kamryn Whitney Court Reporting. Linda Simpson, CSR, RPR, is well known in the legal community and has for over 20 years owned her own court reporting agency in Orange, CA, called Simpson Reporting.
The Paralegal Studies program is another natural for entrepreneurship because many paralegals also work as independent contractors who then branch out and start their own agencies. One of the latest to do so was our recent alumna, Rachel Siciliani, who is CEO of two paralegal agencies: Accurate Legal Solutions and A-Accurate Process Servers.
Although this time, there were no medical assistants who had their own businesses, many of the medical assistants have gone on to provide health-care services businesses or other-related businesses. A recent graduate, Araceli Lopez,, opened her own ultrasound business called SneakaPeek Baby.
If you wish to know more about this unique college or the programs offered, click here
Kristina Tan, graduate of South Coast College, was featured in an episode on Storage Wars in which she evaluated a Stenograph 8000LX.
Darrell and Brandon Sheets, father and son team, visited South Coast College to learn more about the stenograph machine and get a mini lesson in court reporting.
Thanks to the cast and crew of Storage Wars for portraying the profession of court reporting in a positive light. You can learn more about court reporting by clicking GET INFO NOW.
Many students who have four-year university or college degrees have chosen to enroll at South Coast College in Orange, CA, in the Court Reporting Program rather than to pursue an advanced degree in their respective areas, and the numbers are increasing. Out of the 14 court reporting candidates from South Coast College who are going to the November 2015 Certified Shorthand Reporter (CSR) Examination, 6 of them have at least a four-year degree from a university ,
The reasons for this phenomenon may stem from a variety of factors.
Some students report that they had not been given any career information by their counselors about court reporting when they were in high school. When asked, several of the candidates indicated that had they known about the career of court reporting, they would have gone directly into the Court Reporting Program.
Some came from families where parents insisted that their children obtain a four-year degree.
Some were employed in jobs right out of college that either were not in the field in which they majored or were low-paying jobs that had little or no chance of advancement.
Others indicated that they were given misinformation about the field and told that court reporters were going to be replaced by technology. Only through research into the field were they able to discover the advances in technology that have turned this career into the in-demand career that it has become. Watch this video to see how technology is used in the courtroom.
Others simply wanted to be able to apply their knowledge and expertise to this unique field.
Daniel Byun, graduate of Chapman University, indicated that he enjoyed his college experience and was happy to have his B.A. degree in Script Writing. However, had he known about Court Reporting and the opportunities that it presented both financially and professionally, he would have come directly into the Court Reporting Program.
Jessie Frey, graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, received a B.A. degree in Film Preservation. She does not regret obtaining a degree. However, she found that her choices for a career after college were limited.
Leanne Nakanishi, graduate of the University of California at Irvine (UC Irvine), received a B.S. degree in Biology and a B.A. degree in Psychology before enrolling at South Coast College. She said she definitely would have entered directly into the Court Reporting Program had she known more about the field at that time.
Veronica Parker, is an instructor at a military academy. She obtained her B.A. and M.A. degrees while in the military. She chose court reporting because she wants a flexible career where she can be independent.
Kristina Tan, graduate of University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) received a B.A. degree in English. She indicated that her high school counselors really never encouraged students to do anything other than pursue four-year degrees. After working as a tutor and doing a variety of jobs that held little or no chance of advancement, she chose to pursue Court Reporting. She said it was the best decision she could have made. Kristina has become a Certified Eclipse Software Trainer and has been able to support herself while going to school by part-time teaching.
Jai Wang, graduate of the University of Santa Barbara, was working in an unrelated field to his major and decided to enroll in court reporting because he knew someone in the field and decided to enroll at South Coast College because his roommate, John Pham, also a University of Santa Barbara graduate enrolled at South Coast College to become a court reporter.
If you have a four-year degree and are ready for a change, see how you can use the knowledge that you obtained in your major in this exciting, in-demand field of stenography by visiting southcoastcollege.edu.
The Lifehacker Court Reporter article written by Cassandra Caldarella, CSR, a graduate of South Coast College in Orange, CA, has drawn much attention to the relatively unknown career of court reporting. The article has been reprinted by monster.com and shared by numerous entities.
The Lifehacker article on the career of court reporting has brought such attention to the career of stenography that many people are asking where this person gained her court reporting or stenography knowledge and expertise. Cassandra Caldarella, CSR, graduate of South Coast College, not only graduated from South Coast College but also continues to attend the realtime workshops on the campus of South Coast College in order to prepare for realtime certification. Cassandra is one of the many existing court and deposition reporters who strive to improve their skills by attending the workshops designed specifically for improving realtime writing ability, and the certifications are well worth seeking. Most courts provide incentives for realtime certification, and the deposition reporters who have the certification are sought after.
The current Realtime Workshop attendees at South Coast College include State and Federal court reporters, deposition reporters, CART providers, and captioners. If you have not looked into careers that use stenography, you may be missing out on a way to profit from the knowledge that you have gained from your current career. Many students, like Cassandra, already had their degrees in various disciplines before venturing into court reporting. For further information about the South Coast College realtime workshops or about entering the field of stenography, request our Careers in Stenography booklet, visit South Coast College to request your free booklet.
All court reporters and students and families are welcome.
To obtain a special Court Reporters for the Cure shirt, you must register with Kathy Genevay, CSR, Instructor at South Coast College early this week because the shirts have to be pre-ordered. Contact Kathy Genevay at kgenevay@southcoastcollege.com
To learn more about the Walk, go to the South Coast College website under News.
Thanks to our two alumnae, Cassandra Caldarella, CSR, Official Orange County, and Linda Simpson, CSR, owner of Simpson Deposition Services, for making this event possible. Click News for more.
To learn more about becoming a court reporter, go to South Coast College and GET INFO now.
Happy July 4th from the faculty and staff of South Coast College. Thanks to Professor Dixon and Ed Reaser for contributing to the spirit of the holiday.
William Dixon, Director of Legal Programs and Ed Reaser, Librarian
