The cannabis industry is growing, and so is Black Hawk College’s marijuana education program.

Black Hawk College (BHC) welcomed its next cannabis education and workforce development program cohort on Monday, February 3. Associate Vice President for Economic and Workforce Development Richard Bush said six students enrolled in this year’s cohort.

Bush says the nine-week-long programs are fully online and offer students certificates in different marijuana specialties.

“There’s over 420-plus-thousand jobs right now nationwide within the cannabis industry,” Bush said. “These certificates are going to help students acquire the knowledge and information that they need to be successful in those industries.” 

Last year, he said the college partnered with Green Flower, a California-based cannabis industry educator. CEO and Founder Max Simon started the virtual pot education platform in 2014 and said the company now has over 60 college and university partners throughout the US.

“Somebody needs to learn how to grow the plants, which is the cultivation program. You need to turn the raw plant program material into finished products, like edibles, topicals, and tinctures, and that’s the extraction and product development program,” Simon said. “And then, you need to be able to serve those products to customers at the retail level.”

Although Black Hawk is still collecting student data on the program, Bush said the college saw high student retention rates in its first year in 2024. Personal grower and former BHC student Larry Johnson first received his certificate in cultivation and then enrolled in the product development and extraction program.

“The cultivation course is what really hit home with me because I had so many little empty spaces in my knowledge that were just answered in the cultivation class,” Johnson said.

Johnson says the class allowed him to further perfect his craft and said he may even re-enroll in the college’s third cannabis program, retail specialist.

For more information, visit Black Hawk and Green Flower’s websites.