More Hornets in the Hive

Lyndon State has been attracting more and more attention from prospective students.

This semester alone has 111 new students that were not enrolled previously in the fall. That's a 25 percent increase from the few new students who came onboard last spring.

One new face is that of Mia Dinoris, a transfer student from upstate New York. With ambitions to become a U.S. Marshall, she is exploring the social sci- ences of criminal justice here at Lyndon State. "I am looking to expand my knowledge of my trade," Dinoris said.

Marketing and communications officer, Keith Chamberlin, said that the gain in students between the fall semester and the present spring semester represents the second largest increase in the school's history.

Should the school continue to grow in size, however, several concerns arise including adequate housing, sufficient parking, and keeping class sizes as small and manageable as possible.

Assistant academic dean, Deb Hale, said that despite the large incoming number of students, class sizes are assuredly being kept as small as possible through the addition of several courses including biology, representing the world, introduction to psychology, and math. These additional courses have been implemented to encourage the early completion of general education requirements without sacrificing small class sizes.

As it stands now, even with the many new faces on our campus, Lyndon State College offers the smallest class sizes of any college in the Vermont State College community. Lyndon State has an average class size of 16 students. Compare that to 17 at Johnson and Castleton, 20 at the Community College of Vermont, and upwards of 23 at Vermont Technical College.

The forecast for new, incoming students for the fall semester is showing signs of growth too. Already, the school has received nearly 40 percent more applications for the upcoming fall semester than the previous fall semester had at this time, last year.

"The school is evolving. Eventually, it's going to have to accommodate bigger classes and bigger facilities," stated junior of the Music Business program, Andrew Kelley, who has been noticing the growth of the school since his enrollment here. "This is good news for the school."