Florida is no stranger to a tumultuous hurricane season. In the aftermath, several individuals’ everyday schedules are impacted, be it in work or school. In-state students deal with power outages and tree debris, while out-of-state students have concerns of getting back home to safety. During this time, one question is asked: what comes next?
In an email sent by Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Provost Donald Davison, students were informed of the new course plans for the semester and the updated exam days. Due to the days off from Hurricane Helene, followed by the week off from Hurricane Milton, both students and professors have lost over a week of class sessions. To account for lost time, Rollins College has made the decision to add extra days to the end of the semester.
According to the emails sent, class and exam schedules are as follows:
“Classes will be held on Monday, December 9 and Tuesday, December 10. Wednesday, December 11 is a Reading Day, and final exams begin on Thursday, December 12 and end Saturday, December 14.”
Although this new schedule was implemented to “provide additional in-class instruction that was lost,” some students found that these plans were not needed.
“I’m not happy about it because I was still doing work during the week we had off because of Milton, so it feels unnecessary,” said Lena Durette (‘28).
During the breaks, some professors even assigned asynchronous assignments and video lectures. “I don’t feel like extending the semester was the only possible solution they had to losing that much class time,” said Sydnee Spirlin (‘26). Despite the changes made and the work added, scheduling issues still arise. “Since the new schedule change, I now have 3 exams in one day and an exam on a Saturday,” said Spirlin.
In the event of future hurricane seasons like this year, students offered input as to how the college can go about the learning process while outside of the classroom. Student suggestions on the matter included more asynchronous assignments, added lecture videos, and sooner campus assessments post-storm.
Despite alterations, students had some optimism regarding the circumstances as the extension only slightly cuts into their plans for the holidays. “I was planning on going home to Jacksonville, but thankfully my plans have not been affected that much. The only changes I have had to make are the day and time I can leave now,” said Spirlin. “I had planned to leave on the 15th of December, so I think I’ll still be able to catch my flight,” added Durette (’28).
There was no ill will on behalf of the school in this decision for the extension. Provost Davison said the goal was to “to keep the end of the year schedule disruption to a minimum while simultaneously preserving the quality academic experience that we want to provide to our students.”
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