American River College students all feel differently as they ponder their thoughts on ARC confirming in an email that 2021’s fall semester will be in a hybrid setting. This means classes will be offered in person, online or a mixture of both. 

ARC education major Angelica Beck says she has mixed feelings about a hybrid learning environment due to worries about how well the college will handle the sanitization process and how safe the students will be.

“I am very apprehensive about things moving back onto campus and into small classrooms,” Beck said. “I’m sure that ARC will take precautions, but you really can’t be too safe.”

Beck says she prefers in-person classes and that she dislikes online learning.

“I struggle with dyslexia, so being able to ask the professor any questions I have in person makes my life easier,” Beck said. “I really haven’t gotten used to online classes and personally, I can’t stand them, but I’m glad that there was an alternative to just not doing classes at all.”

ARC journalism major Jason Wenceslao says he feels neutral about ARC converting to a hybrid format in the fall. 

“I understand that faculty is trying to prioritize programs that aren’t able to learn remotely,” Wenceslao said. “There are both pros and cons, in person classes allow for students to build connections with others and network, while online classes allow a more open availability for students that have jobs outside of their academic lives.” 

Wenceslao says he likes online classes and that he is still unsure about how ARC will handle sanitization.

“Personally I prefer online since I’m saving gas and am able to do assignments whenever it’s convenient for me,” Wenceslao said. “The only thing I’m worried about is how clean are the classrooms actually going to be? How often is everything going to be sanitized? These facilities see hundreds of different students each day.”

ARC biology major Jacquelyn Munoz says she strongly believes the upcoming fall semester will be a good time to start the transition back to in-person learning.

“I’m sure that ARC will take the steps to ensure this to be a safe transition for all of the students,” Munoz said. “Many students are planning to transfer and others are becoming first time students and this will allow them to get the most out of the education ARC offers, safely of course.”

Munoz says that online learning lacks the experience she needs for her study of discipline in biology. She says that there are certain subjects that she doesn’t feel like she can understand proficiently without in person guidance. 

“As a [first-year student], I have yet to actually experience any classes at the campus, so I’m eager to be a part of that process when the time comes,” Munoz said. “As for my experience with online learning, it hasn’t been all terrible, I’ve liked it well enough but I’m not comfortable experiencing all my classes online.”