College and students returning to campus this fall with pandemic protections
by on May 10, 2021Gavilan College has posted the class schedules for summer and fall 2021, and begun registering students. Although the summer session remains entirely online, Fall 2021 will offer both in-person and online options.
"We are excited to begin bringing students back to campus -- carefully" said Dr. Kathleen A. Rose, Superintendent / President. "We know that with the pandemic and disruption of the past year, many students took a year off from pursuing their higher education goals. We're ready to help them come back."
The majority of in-person offerings will include classes with a emphasis on hands-on learning, such as Cosmetology, Nursing, HVAC, and Aviation Maintenance. However, students will also be able to choose in-person sections in English (both Gilroy and Hollister), Child Development, Anthropology, English as a Second Language (Hollister) Golf, Karate, Music, Swimming, Tennis, Theater, and Welding (at San Benito High School.) Athletics programs will also be on campus in the fall.
The college's Emergency Operations Committee has been meeting regularly to plan the return to campus, which will occur in stages correlating with Santa Clara County protocols and the state's tiring system. The stages go from most restrictive (Stage I) to normal, unrestricted operations (Stage V). The stages in-between include such measures as mask-wearing, restricted access to campus, reduced occupancy levels for classrooms and indoor spaces, enhanced sanitization and cleaning, self-screening and measures to enable contact-tracing in the event of a positive case.
Since the start of the pandemic, Gavilan College has been operating primarily online. Students have been able to borrow laptops and wifi hotspots, participate in drive-through food distribution, engage in Zoom forums, and get help from Peer Mentors at a Virtual Welcome Center, and from online counseling, tutoring, and tech support.
Although many students and faculty are anxious to resume college life in person, the college recognizes that many are taking a more cautious approach. The majority of General Education classes will remain online for the fall, with robust support for online learning provided. The schedule of classes, application for admission, financial aid access and Virtual Welcome Center can all be found at www.gavilan.edu.