Intersession courses will be available during winter. Approximately 21 sections will be offered wrote Vice President, Hector Cordova, in an e-mail on Wednesday.

“I can confirm that SJCC plans to offer a cosolidated intersession,” Cordova wrote.

The courses will give students an additional option to satisfy their General Education requirements, Cordova wrote.

“These sections are scheduled only in the mornings and early afternoons,” wrote Virginia Scales, Dean of the Language Arts in an e-mail.

Most of the sections will be held in two buildings to conserve energy costs, Scales said Associated Students President, Raymond Porras, A.S.

Vice President Jeff Berta, along with the rest of the Associated Student Council voted in favor of having a winter intersession at the Sept. 28 board meeting.

At the meeting, the College Planning Council recommended the matter to Vice President Hector Cardova and President Doug Treadway, who then made the decision to offer the courses.

“This is an example of what happens when students voice (their opinions),” Porras said.

There were no plans to have a 2011 intersession, until the CPC recommended it to the Board of Trustees said David Yancey SJCC History Professor.

Prior to the confirmation, Cordova said in an interview that developing an intersession would take classes away from the spring semester.

Cardova said besides money issues, there is a concern that three weeks of class for the intersession period may not be enough.

Some teachers on campus agree that intersession is beneficial to students.

“Experience is proven to be opposite of their expectations,” Yancey said. “Students learn more and retain it better.”

The 2010 winter term was the first intersession to be cut due to low funds. It affected many students. Empty classrooms were left behind after
the fall semester.

While many students enjoyed a few weeks off of school. There were others who looked forward to the intersession.

Yancey said the sudden departure of the intersession last year caused a delay for student progression.

“It gives students that one extra semester they need,” Porras said. “Those who are few credits away from a diploma depend on the winter classes.”