St Petersburg College
Check out the most popular majors and specific degrees students have earned at St Petersburg College.
*Sources for school statistics and data include the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. Data may vary depending on school and academic year.
Check out the online programs offered at St Petersburg College.
Turn your interest in animals and science into a rewarding career at St. Petersburg College. Peek into the labs and practice areas throughout the new Veterinary Technology Center and you’ll feel like you’re in a veterinary clinic. In many ways you actually are! This massive facility contains the tools and technology you need to gain practical experience treating animals. By helping out in the surgical suite you’ll get to play the role of anesthesia technician and surgical assistant. Over in the blood lab you will learn to examine blood samples under the microscope for indicators of disease. To further demonstrate your commitment to cats and canines, students can volunteer at the on-campus kennel or foster pets in the program’s care. You’ll improve the lives of furry friends in need and get more one-on-one time working with your future patient population. Can’t move to Florida to earn your degree? No problem! Take this program entirely online and complete the required field experiences where you live. After all, animals everywhere need your skillful care.
The thing I liked most was the flexibility in class scheduling. I'm a busy person with a lot of work and a family to juggle daily on top of classes. SPC allowed me to be flexible in the classes I chose and fit them around my schedule the best I could. I definitely think the classes I took for economics and investments really helped me with a good grasp on things to expect in the real world. I had already been working in the field when I took the classes, but as I moved up in my career it definitely helped make that corporate ladder climb easier.
The entire faculty and staff were very helpful in and out of the classroom. Honestly, I felt that I was being helped academically and challenged mentally to excel as a student in every possible way. I did my studying, homework, and tutoring in the school library and the common support center, and these available resources played a major role in my student success. Another thing I enjoyed at SPC were the motivational workshops held on campus that inspired, challenged, and introduced me to other professionals’ career journeys, ones that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to hear and experience otherwise.
St. Petersburg College is a great place to develop academic intelligence in classes, but beyond that, it’s a phenomenal place to develop practical intelligence working with others because of the faculty relationships and student activities. I was selected to represent SPC in Prague and Olomouc in the Czech Republic for the Model United Nations conference, an experience that helped me become aware of diplomacy and international issues and enhance my negotiation, public speaking and leadership skills. Also, at the SPC Annual Law Day Event, I was able to meet the keynote speaker, Honorable Judge Chris Altenbernd from the Second District Court of Appeals in Tampa. I talked to him about my education, work, achievements, and aspirations, and asked for a chance to intern with him. He thought for a while, and after agreeing to interview me he offered me the internship. I was told this was an unprecedented win for SPC and a great victory for the power of the education in the SPC’s pre-law paralegal program. Judge Altenbernd told me that in the twenty-seven years he has been a judge he has never had an intern without at least a year of law school. This internship, which was made possible through networking at an SPC event, turned out to be the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to learn the inner workings of the judicial system and experience advocacy through the eyes of a judge, which is difficult to reproduce outside the court.
I took my two-year program mostly online and only took two in-person classes relating to my major. Since I worked full-time, it really helped me work my education into my own schedule. This allowed me to succeed greater than if the program were more strictly regimented. That's not to say that there weren't deadlines to adhere to, but an elastic schedule allowed me to work at a relatively easy pace, especially considering I was taking upwards of 15 to 18 credits per semester.
I went to SPC for both my associate and bachelor degrees and have only positive things to say about this college! The staff and professors really made an effort to make students feel welcomed and at home. Each month, all of the college campuses made an effort to provide fun and interactive events for students like Ping-Pong tournaments and ice cream socials, which were also great ways to network and meet new friends. There were all age ranges at SPC, which was never a negative quality. I felt that no matter what age the students were—whether they were high school students doing dual enrollment or individuals over 30 returning to school—all of my classmates got along really well.
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St. Petersburg College alumni have earned themselves some pretty out-of-this-world achievements. NASA Astronauts Samuel Durrance and Nicole Stott both studied here. After attending SPC, Oceanographer and Aquanaut Sylvia Earle went on to lead more than 50 ocean exploration missions. Several current and former members of the Florida Senate also earned degrees here including Victor Crist, Mike Fasano, Dennis Jones, and Steve Oelrich. Major league baseball player alumni include former New York Mets Infielder Tim Teufel and former Florida Marlins Infielder Kurt Abbott. Jim Morrison, who is best known as the singer and songwriter for the famous classic rock band The Doors, also attended for a brief time.
St. Petersburg College is broken up into 10 campuses stationed in cities throughout the small peninsula that makes up Pinellas County, Florida. This college is a beach lover’s paradise since all campuses are just miles from Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Each campus is home to a particular set of academic programs. For example, if you’re a business student you’ll take classes over at the Downtown Center in St. Petersburg. Or, if you’re in one of the college’s many health programs, you will learn alongside students who share your calling for healthcare over at the Caruth Heath Education Center in Pinellas Park. Several of the campuses have libraries where you can study, find resources, use computers, or access tutoring. While SPC doesn’t offer campus housing you still have access to services and amenities that will give you the college experience like fitness centers, dining spots, sports facilities, and event venues. Regardless of where you’re taking SPC classes in Pinellas County, your main campus will surely come to feel like a second home.
So many options! What else would you expect from Florida’s largest online college? You can choose from around 50 associate’s, bachelor’s, and certificate programs offered online, several of which have won awards for excellence. Along with common academic programs like business administration and education you can select from unique courses of study, such as crime scene technology, fire science, sustainability management, and homeland security. Take advantage of the Learn To Earn program by signing up for short-term training courses on topics relevant to healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, technology, and general professionalism. Just to get a taste for what SPC offers, past courses have included HTML5 Basics, Alzheimer’s Disease and Patient Care Issues, Networking Skills That Work, and Unmanned Aerial Systems (that’s right, a class on drones!). Learn To Earn courses cost as little as 30 dollars and run anywhere from a single day to a few months. That’s a small investment of time and money for a serious career boost.
The Titans compete in the National Junior College Athletic Association on seven different varsity teams including baseball, softball, basketball, tennis, volleyball, softball, and cheerleading. Men’s basketball and baseball both took state championships in the early 2000s. On a national level the women’s tennis team was able to fight its way to third in the nation in 2011. “St. Pete” just couldn’t be beat during the 2005-2006 season, when the softball, baseball, basketball, and volleyball teams all won conference championships. A number of talented Titans have gone on to be professional athletes. In 2015 the New York Yankees drafted Titans Outfielder Trey Amburgey, making him the 66th SPC athlete to be drafted in the past few decades.
St. Petersburg College started out as the first two-year college in Florida but has since added a number of bachelor programs in business, education, nursing, legal studies, and more, giving undergrads more options than ever before. The college still places a huge emphasis on giving students technical training, meaning you’ll gain directly applicable workforce skills in your courses. Speaking of workforce skills, in 2015 the college received a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to train more than 300 apprentices to work in the fields of healthcare, technology, manufacturing, and construction. SPC also opened an Innovation Lab in 2014. Creative minds gather in the lab and bring their ideas to life using advanced tools like a 3D printer and programmable robot kit. Faculty members across departments exemplify SPC’s focus on innovation. In 2015 six professors were the honored recipients of John and Suanne Roueche Excellence Awards granted by an international organization called the League for Innovation in the Community College. Professor Wendy Huehn-Brown received this award for using technology like pencasts, messaging tools, and weekly videos to connect with her students and facilitate their understanding of course material. That’s innovation and dedication!
