In the collegiate ranks, academic or athletic, every student matters.
That message couldn’t have been any clearer during Monday’s Hopkinsville Community College Board of Directors meeting in the Emerging Technologies Center, as President Dr. Alissa Young celebrated an increase of 13 students between the 2021 and 2022 summer enrollment.
To some, this may seem insignificant.
To Young and her board, a jump from 724 to 737 is 1.8% growth from year-to-year. A baker’s dozen in the “Batter Capital of the World” means another night class, another learned group, another portion of the population learning a trade or skill.
And it also means an attendance rebound could be coming, after COVID-19 forced remote learning or quitting altogether.
Young believes students are “more comfortable” taking classes at this time, and during the height of the pandemic, she said she ran into a few people who felt as though they needed to “put their education on hold” for whatever reasons necessary.
Now, some are “taking the breaks” off of that hiatus, and there’s a sincere expectation — based on early returns — that fall enrollment will see an increase, following the reporting of those numbers at the end of this quarter.
In other HCC board news:
— Megan Long, of Clarksville, was named as student regent to the board. She’s the new Student Government Association president, and she’ll graduate in December after starting school in 2020.
— Leigh Durden was once again selected as HCC’s board chair, and Donnie Holland was again tabbed as secretary. Anthony Holloway was picked as vice chairman, following Hollis White III. All three will serve the next 12 months.
— Adopted December 6, 2019, board members decided to make no changes to the college’s current mission statement, which notes that HCC “leads in academic excellence by preparing students for transfer and the workforce, inspiring lifelong learning,” and that HCC is a “member of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and is a public two-year degree granting institution.”
— New places and renovated spaces coming to HCC in the immediacy include: the Administration Building, Academic Building Renovation, Flexible Training Center, Auditorium, Library and Signage.
— The board’s next meetings were set for the next year: November 28, February 27 and May 1.
