Students returned to the classroom on Monday at Crowder College.
By Tuesday, the parking lots were still full. Students were parking in the grass, and in the student center 27 vendors offered giveaways and handouts on their services as part of welcome week.
“It’s been a great success,” said campus life coordinator Mark Aubuchon of the number of students who filtered through the center Monday and early Tuesday.
Jolene Sullivan, career services coordinator, was on her third candy run by mid-Tuesday.
Students lobbed a walnut at a plastic cup anchored in a tub and took home a bag of candy for their success. She had distributed approximately 120 sacks of candy, stress balls, staplers and other goodies to students who landed a walnut into her target bin. Her table distributed more than 100 of their success guides.
“I’m very pleased with the turnout,” Sullivan said before turning to encourage another student to play. “Come play my game.”
Students said they spent most of their first class periods going over the syllabus and some already had homework.
Trisha Roberts, nursing sophomore, said returning to school with a five-month-old baby made the class schedule a little bit different.
“It’s good,” Roberts said. “I’m still settling in, getting used to it.”
Tonya Conn, sophomore education major, was glad to be back.
“It’s always exciting,” Conn said, “But you just never feel that your summer is long enough.”
In McDonald Hall where most of Conn’s classes are, there are more people filling the halls, a condition she hopes changes when the nearby health sciences building opens at the beginning of next year.
Dorms were full when students moved in over the weekend.
“You can tell just by walking down the hallways just how crowded it is," Aubuchon said.
Crowder has not released any official enrollment numbers, but when its official count is taken 20 days into the semester, officials expect to see growth.
“Last year, we set a record of 4,407 and we already look to surpass that,” said Cindy Brown, director of public information for the college.
“There’s definitely a lot more people than there was last year,” said Aaron Ratterree, sophomore business administration major.
