SAN DIEGO - The Continuing Education Center in Rancho Bernardo, a focus of education for 25 years and part of San Diego State University, is facing a financial crisis that is forcing a change of venue by the middle of March.

The campus at 16776 Bernardo Center Drive rents for approximately $3,000 per month and is not only no longer feasible but has been leased to another tenant.

So what to do? William Bixbee, dean of San Diego State who oversees the education center, says there is diminishing interest in the "unique" classes offered at the center, making the rent no longer affordable. CEC president, Ed Lehman, says the group is looking for either a new site or the possibility of switching its affiliation to Cal State San Marcos or the University of Phoenix.

Currently, there are 800 members active in the organization right here in our community and a new semester scheduled to begin in April. Hopefully, there'll be another site for the Continuing Education Center. It would be a shame to lose it.

Rooting for RB finalist: When the TV show, American Idol, finally selects its winner, let's all hope that she'll be Dreah Hancock, Rancho Bernardo High School graduate, now 24 and survivor of several eliminations in the American Idol series. She has already outlasted nearly 50,000 singers who tried out at the initial auditions. A professional makeup artist, Hancock is a singer at heart and has been since the age of 3.

New doc in town: Dr. Patricia Rose, a board certified family physician, has joined the Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group and says she's found the physicians at Sharp here in RB to be "true team players. I believe this team approach is key to great patient care".

Rose received her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and completed her internship and residency at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier, California. Her medical interests include diabetes, women's health, geriatrics, headache treatment and school and sports physicals. She speaks Spanish fluently.

Annual induction coming up: On March 20, three community leaders will be inducted into the Rancho Bernardo Hall of Fame: George Cooke, Jane Radatz and Abe Baum.

All are being honored, as inductees are each year, for their community service. Cooke helped residents find traffic solutions in their neighborhoods, no mean feat these days. Baum was a leader in establishing the living history program that lets high school students talk with veterans about their military experience. Radatz helped the Rancho Bernardo Joslyn Center raise over $100,000 and runs SHOK (Seniors Helping Our Kids) which inspires adults to work with children who need help reading as well as in math and other studies. She's the first inductee who lives in Poway but who does almost all her supportive work for the RB Community.