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Del Mar College rolls with COVID-19's punches

Posted at 7:54 PM, Apr 29, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-30 09:33:55-04

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Upcoming semesters will look and feel a little bit different for Del Mar College students. College president Mark Escamilla recently announced plans for how it will hold classes in upcoming semesters.

Because of COVID-19, the college will be offering online classes for the first part of the summer semester, with the possibility of transitioning to a mix of online, hybrid and in-person in the later part of summer.

For the fall semester, the college will also transition what were 16-week courses in the past into two 8-week terms with online, hybrid and in-person classes.

“Shorter terms allow for flexibility in scheduling, and also to make sure the college is meeting necessary health and safety conditions and requirements,” Escamilla said in a statement available on the college's website. "Additionally, online, hybrid and face-to-face courses will be offered as health and safety guidelines permit and College safety protocols are finalized.”

DMC freshman Marcus Gutierrez said he was hoping things would be back to normal for the Fall semester. He said he looks forward to face-to-face instruction.

“When I saw those changes, I definitely wasn't as excited,” he said. “I’m better at learning in person, but then we got online classes and it's just not the same. The energy isn’t there.”

Registration for Summer and Fall classes is now open. Students are encouraged to register as soon as they can.

Del Mar is also offering services like emergency financial aid, lending out laptops, and free WiFi for students.