Hudson Valley says goodmorning to sunrise classes
Angela Scipione
Creative Editor
Starting this fall, “sunrise classes” will be available for students who wish to get an early start to their day.
Sunrise classes are one of the new initiatives that President Ramsammy has implemented since his arrival to the college on July 1. His idea to start classes at 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. stems from the difficulty that some students have with making a schedule that fits their daily life.
“When you think about the type of workforce that we have out there, there are people who may want an opportunity to go to school but are limited by the times that we begin classes at 8 o’clock. [Sunrise Classes are] really reaching out to that population that may have had difficulty getting a start,” Ramsammy said.
This concept was introduced to appeal to a new audience, to help students with busy schedules have greater flexibility and convenience.
“This might help our current student population and be desirable to a new student population that has a schedule that didn’t mesh with our current course offering, said Dennis Kennedy, Director of Communications and Marketing
So far, only a few English and math courses are offered at 7 a.m. for the fall semester. “We plan to offer more in the spring term as well as for next fall. It’s an initiative that we want to grow and continue, we’re using this fall semester as an opportunity to get started and gauge the interest level of our students in taking courses that are earlier than what we normally offer,” Kennedy said.
The average student at Hudson Valley is 23 years old, meaning that many of them have jobs or other family/life commitments that can turn into obstacles when attending college. Kennedy says that this is mainly “an attempt to reach students who we haven’t connected with yet,” although it can potentially be beneficial to any student.
It can also be beneficial to professors who are interested in starting their day earlier. Kennedy is confident that finding faculty to teach sunrise classes will not be hard. “We have over 600 faculty members, and… I think our academic departments are able to find the faculty support that they need in order to run courses earlier than we normally have.”
Adjunct professor, Diane Clark, thinks it is a wonderful opportunity for professors and would gladly take the option to teach earlier in the morning. “Instead of being an adjunct in the evening or on the weekends, this would be a great alternative for me to come in and teach a class from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. and still have an opportunity to work out and whatever [else] I wanted to do,” Clark said. She also points out that many professors are usually up at that time anyway.
While many traditional students will inherently stick to their schedule of sleeping in and starting class later in the day, some students see the initiative as beneficial and something they would consider taking advantage of.
Will Notaro, in the HVAC program, has to work right after school. “I definitely wouldn’t mind coming in that early. The quicker I can get done with classes and everything, the better.” He scheduled himself into the earliest classes he could find but wants to enroll in 6 a.m. courses next semester.
For students like Notaro, the early offerings will be favorable, however, he doesn’t believe that sunrise classes will be the most popular of choices. “It’s not for everybody,” Notaro says.
Architectural technologies major, Geoff Heller, agrees that “not too many people are very early risers.” Nevertheless, he is a supporter of early classes, saying “for those who are working afternoon shifts or find it hard to fit their classes into work with their schedule, it’s a great option. And the more options you have at Hudson Valley, the better you can succeed.”
President Ramsammy, who has over 30 years of experience in higher education, has seen success with sunrise classes in the past. In the coming semester, we will find out how our student population reacts to this initiative and if Hudson Valley will experience the same success.