Class is in Session

Officials touted increased enrollment and a robust dual enrollment presence Monday as St. Johns River State College began its fall semester.

Although the college offers summer courses, there was a noticeable increase in foot traffic and high spirits as students began or resumed their collegiate careers, SJR State President Joe Pickens said Monday morning.

This is Pickens’ 15th fall semester first day, but he said time has not dulled the thrill of the start of a new semester.

“It’s always exciting,” he said. “It’s like (returning for) spring training. It’s always nice to be back after summer.”

Adding to that excitement, Pickens said, is the increase in enrollment. Pickens said there was a 6% increase in enrollment from the previous fall semester but noted the college won’t have the final enrollment numbers until Aug. 28 – after the deadline to drop and add courses.

According to an email from Michelle Sjogren, the assistant vice president for institutional advancement and strategic communications, there were 480 students enrolled at the Palatka campus as of Tuesday. The email also shows 1,168 enrolled at the Orange Park campus, 1,091 students attending the St. Augustine campus and 2,748 enrolled online.

After enrollment numbers are final, college officials will look at the numbers and compare information with members of the Association of Florida Colleges’ Council of Presidents to determine if the increased enrollment is a sign of a statewide trend or a result of SJR State’s increased digital marketing, Pickens said.

The college has been targeting a broad swath of potential students, ranging from recent to not-so-recent high school graduates and from young people looking to dual enroll to older adults who want to return to school, Pickens said.

“We’ll know a lot more in a couple of weeks when we see who came,” he said, referencing students.

Pickens said a big push behind the increased digital marketing effort comes from Sjogren.

She said the college collected information on possible students and then advertised with them in mind. Where some businesses have a more precise target audience, Sjogren said, SJR State casts a wider net because there are so many people who could be interested in attending one of the college’s three in-person campuses, taking classes online or learning through dual enrollment.

“We probably have the largest audience of all businesses because we want it all,” she said about attracting prospective students.

She and Pickens said there was also a marketing shift toward dual enrollment, which they said has also seen an increase.

Dual enrollment, which allows high school students to take college courses free of charge, has always been in demand.

Its popularity has noticeably increased since 2020, Pickens said.

By Tuesday, there were 355 students taking dual enrollment classes at SJR State, but the exact number of dual enrollment students won’t be known until after Labor Day, Sjogren’s email stated.

“COVID created an even greater awareness of dual enrollment because those classes were available online,” Pickens said. “We as an institution are exceptionally committed to dual enrollment. It’s just a great deal for everybody.”

Although Monday was Riley Speaks’ first day of college after graduating this year from Peniel Baptist Academy, she’s no stranger to SJR State. She dual enrolled while in high school and hopes to use those courses, as well as her current and future classes at SJR State, as a stepping stone to eventually earning a master’s degree in speech therapy.

She hopes to attend the University of Florida, but finishing her prerequisite classes at SJR State is the first goal she wants to reach.

“I’m going here to finish my (associate degree),” Speaks said. “I live very near, so it’s easy for me. I’m only five minutes away.”

She may have taken college courses before graduating from high school, but she admitted to still being nervous before showing up to school Monday. Michael Smith, however, didn’t suffer from any nerves because Monday was the start of his fourth semester at the college.

Smith was home-schooled and later started studying at SJR State en route to becoming a registered nurse. He’d like to eventually get his Bachelor of Science in nursing, but he firsts need to tick off his lower-level classes.

“I’m coming here for the nursing program, and I’m getting my (prerequisite classes) out of the way,” Smith said. “It’s convenient. I like it here, and I like the nursing program.”

Pickens said the joy on campus during the first day of the semester was palpable and reinforced why he and the rest of the college officials show up every day.

He and Sjogren said they’re excited about what’s to come this semester and can’t wait to see students learn more about their fields of study and learn more about themselves.

“It’s a great reminder of why we do this,” Pickens said. “This is one of those days that this isn’t just a job.”