Reporter

A round of applause may soon be heard around CSU Bakersfield as the campus is close to surviving its first semester in the new semester system. Faculty, students, and staff have had to transition to an added five weeks and many have said it has not been easy.

Senior communications major Riley Marquez, 21, discussed how the semester system switch caused some complications in her academic career.

“My graduation date got extended by one semester because of the switch,” said Marquez.

Marquez prefers the quarter system as the fast paced environment allows for the subject to remain more interesting.

Senior communications major Jovanni Hernandez, 25, has had similar experiences to Marquez but prefers the semester system.

“I prefer semesters because it gives me more time to study and everything is not crammed,” said Hernandez. “Quarter is fast; you really have to prepare yourself for long classes.”

To Hernandez, the class length is balanced in both systems.

“There is a trade-off,” said Hernandez. “We had a longer class time in the quarter system, but now we have a few more weeks to prepare for assignments in the semester system.”

After the new experiences of this semester, both students will be making some changes for next semester.

“This next semester I’m taking more classes that are interesting to me personally rather than just what’s required for graduation,” said Marquez.

“I will try another semester and work on keeping up, adjusting my working schedule to make it more accustomed to my school schedule,” Hernandez said.

Kyung Jung Han, who was hired this fall as a communications professor at CSUB, will also be making some changes for next year.

“Next semester, I am teaching different courses and am working with students for service learning as contributing to the Bakersfield community,” said Han. “I can’t imagine what’s happened, but students and me will make each course unique.”

Han said CSUB students are very interactive and are serious about their learning. She is happy to be working with students in the semester system, applying what she has researched and studied for the past 10 years.

“I am more familiar with the semester system than quarters,” said Han. “For PR major, I believe it’s more reasonable to cover a textbook and to learn more practical skills.”

John Dirkse, who has been an administrator at CSUB for 10 years, understands the semester scheduling and the changes it has caused.

“We have been working on semesters for four years. We put in a lot of work, but we knew what had to be done,” said Dirkse.

Dirkse said his goal was to make the system transition uneventful.

“We wanted to make sure that students weren’t inconvenienced and were still able to register for classes for fall,” said Dirkse.

The transition was smooth, and students just have to get used to a few differences.

“I have heard students talk about how they are in the fifth week of school yet still have midterms. Professors are in the rhythm of teaching five weeks and then giving a midterm. Students also have to get used to coming for two weeks after Thanksgiving,” said Dirkse.

With spring 2017 coming up fast behind fall 2016, students are encouraged to take 15 units to stay within the four-year graduation plan. Dirkse noted that students are only taking an average of 12.9 units each semester.

“Some will be behind on their graduation. That is something we will look at more for students,” Dirkse said.