Samantha Douty
Reporter
The number of students attending Del Mar College’s Northwest Center has increased dramatically from last fall semester to this spring.
“DMC Northwest Center credits our continued support from departments seeing the need to assist those students who live in the Northwest area,” Northwest Center Program Coordinator Mario Flores said. “We have seen an increase of four to five instructors due to the increase in our student body.”
According to Flores, last fall an estimated 175-200 students were enrolled, and this spring approximately 285 students are enrolled. Some of the new classes offered at the Northwest Center include BIOL 2401 and 2402 (and lab), Composition I and II, Government and Psychology.
“I love the size of the Northwest campus,” student Victoria Davis said. “It is not too big, so I get the opportunity to get extra attention from my teachers on classwork.”
The atmosphere differs because of the size difference between the Northwest Center and the two main campuses.
“The atmosphere is an interesting combination of laid back and excitement,” public speaking instructor Jack Stubblefield said. “I think some of the excitement is because there are students at the Northwest center that might not have otherwise entered college because of the convenience of the location.”
According to Flores, because of the time and money saved by not having to drive 20 minutes to either the East or West campus, the students and instructors are thrilled to see an increase in courses offered at the Northwest Center.
“Even though I’m only taking one class at the Northwest campus it is still very convenient for me,” Davis said. “I feel privileged to have the opportunity to take classes at the campus.”
The Northwest Center has been around since 2010 and has continued to grow since the opening semester. Flores hopes even more students will enroll for semesters to come.
“We hope to see an increase in attendance in our summer/fall courses,” Flores said. “We will continue to offer core courses for those incoming freshmen, students wanting to continue their course work and those attending universities coming home for the summer.”
