{"id":29235,"date":"2021-08-30T23:45:30","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T03:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/?p=29235"},"modified":"2021-09-16T12:28:57","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T16:28:57","slug":"one-week-into-the-fall-semester-mdc-reports-increased-traffic-on-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/one-week-into-the-fall-semester-mdc-reports-increased-traffic-on-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"One Week Into Fall Semester, MDC Reports Increased Traffic On-Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid a global pandemic, Alex Ferrer spent his first year at Miami Dade College in isolation.<\/span><\/p>\n

He took online classes but struggled to grasp the material. Ferrer found the modality rigid and yearned for a more social environment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So when he got the opportunity to register for in-person classes this fall semester, he seized the moment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the first day of school, Ferrer found himself in unfamiliar territory<\/span>\u2014<\/span>at Eduardo J. Padr\u00f3n Campus in Little Havana. Three of his five classes<\/span>\u2014<\/span>anatomy and physiology, a lab and trigonometry<\/span>\u2014this fall <\/span>are in-person.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI missed being in-person so much,\u201d said Ferrer, who is a pre-physical therapy major. \u201cI missed the atmosphere a classroom created for students, being with my friends and seeing new faces.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ferrer is part of a growing cluster of MDC students who have found their way back on-campus in the fall semester.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

More than 21,140 students are taking in-person courses college-wide this semester compared to the same period last year when only 4,300 students were on-campus, according to numbers provided by the College.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI got lost a little bit and there were a lot of people, but it was good,\u201d said Aurora Batista, a second-year student in the Honors College at Kendall Campus, who admitted to being a tad bit nervous.<\/span><\/p>\n

Students at all eight campuses were greeted with a healthy amount of activities to keep their energy flowing. Among the festivities, a welcome back breakfast and dinner with Finn at North Campus, a club rush at Wolfson Campus and a Frosty First Day event that filled students’ bellies with an ice cream of their choice at Homestead Campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

The North Campus Student Government Association hosted a tour of the campus that was attended by more than 20 people and Homestead SGA organized a meet and greet event that featured more than 60 guests.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s definitely been a heightened level of student engagement since we’ve returned to campus,\u201d said Nicole Bryant, the student life director at Homestead. \u201cStudents haven’t had on-campus engagement for the most part in the past year and a half. So they’re just very active and engaged and want to get involved in more and more activities.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>A wide-range of events happened during the first few weeks to keep students’ social calendars filled. Here are a few:<\/span><\/p>\n