Cape Cod Community College Launches Funeral Services Program Amid Growing Industry Demand
Cape Cod Community College and Bridgewater State University are collaborating on a unique partnership to prepare students for careers in the funeral services industry. Approximately 150 students are enrolled in a program that provides an associate degree and professional certificates in four areas: embalming, bereavement support, funeral administration, and funeral celebrants.
President John Cox brought the program to Cape Cod Community College when Mt. Ida College ended its funeral services program in April 2018. Despite facing a lack of space at the West Barnstable campus and a lack of residence halls to offer students, Cox decided to contact Bridgewater President Frederick Clark Jr. The two institutions signed a long-term operating agreement, with Bridgewater serving as the host location.
The small number of students enrolled in the program didn’t deter Cox, as he believed the marketplace would yield enough demand. Indeed, the program is only one of 58 accredited programs in the United States, according to a report by the Cape Cod Times. Students can take the two-year, 64-credit program or courses that offer relevant certificates.
All students must intern with a funeral home during the program and embalm 10 decedents. Even those who are enrolled virtually must travel to Bridgewater to participate in a one-week practicum.
In a restorative arts class, 29-year-old funeral director and adjunct lecturer Seyward Guthrie taught students how to apply wax to plastic skulls and add makeup and hair to faces.
“People don’t realize all the bits and pieces that we have,” said Guthrie. “The foundation is bones, then muscles. Primarily, we focus on the head and face in restorative art.”
The need for classes like this and the program has only increased over time. “There’s absolutely a need for funeral directors,” said Bill Chapman, co-owner of Massachusetts-based Chapman Funeral Homes, which operates six Cape Cod locations and one on Martha’s Vineyard.
Cox agrees, believing it’s essential to “build the next generation of people who would run funeral homes.”
