Fort Peck Community College Reaches Record Enrollment
The COVID pandemic created a lot of uncertainty, but Fort Peck Community College took on the unforeseen obstacles in historical fashion.
“We took on the challenge right away,” Fort Peck Community College president Haven Gourneau said. “We didn’t skip a beat.”
The result was that FPCC now has an all-time high enrollment of more than 700 students. In recent years, the college averaged between 375 and 425 students.
“Our faculty and staff really stepped up,” Gourneau said. “We had to for our community and our students.”
The changes include a new learning program and becoming incredibly familiar with Zoom video conferencing.
“It was a huge amount of work. Nobody took a break,” Gourneau said.
Despite the huge learning curve that featured a large amount of training, the college didn’t lose a single instructor throughout the process. Instead, the dedicated instructors adjusted their teaching method to a new online environment in an amazing short period of time.
Gourneau said administrators, faculty members and staff never thought of failing. “We didn’t stop long enough to think that way, because it had to work,” she explained. “We had to figure it out. It was every day of learning, plus COVID was changing all the time too.”
Benefits offered to students have included free tuition, paying for digital books and providing laptops. Almost all classes, except for vocational classes, are conducted online although this semester they have increased the number of in-person offerings. A campus-wide safe environment is always a priority.
In addition, COVID related funds made it possible for the college to provide emergency funds for such items as food assistance, a living stipend, emergency funds car repair, rent, food and even eye glasses if that was a barrier. The goal was to assist students in just about anyway possible.
“So, that might mean new tires if you have bald tires or paying for internet so you can be on-line,” Gourneau said. “The money is geared to help students succeed.”
Gourneau noted the encouragement has resulted in students reaching their educational goals. The most popular classes have included a variety of vocational classes such as welding, CDL and automotive. Other attractive fields are elementary education, health careers and human services.
“People are just gearing up for all the possibilities after COVID,” Gourneau said. “The funding has proven that the less stress an individual is under, the more likelihood there is to complete their studies.”
With the wide variety of on-line classes now available, FPCC has experienced a difference with its students base as well. There is now an increase of tribal members taking classes that don’t reside on the Fort Peck Reservation.
“Before on-line, we had maybe one student from a different state. Now, we have people from all over the country taking classes,” Gourneau explained. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for our community members who don’t live here.”
As far as the future, Gourneau says that it can’t be predicted what desires and needs that the community and students might have. “So, we have to change with it,” she said. On-line classes appear to be the future, but instructors and students also love in-person classes. “There’s something about looking at each other that makes a difference.”
She noted that during her 32 years working at the college, including seven as president, she always had the goal of attracting 600 students. She knows there are many individuals to thank for the college reaching that type of success.
“We’re teaching 700 students with the same number of employees, a few more adjuncts,” Gourneau said. She mentioned the positive impacts of the administrative team including department heads. “And our maintenance, those guys kept our campus safe.”
She greatly appreciates the dedication of the college’s faculty and staff. “And our students for staying patient with us,” she said. “We didn’t have students panic. They stayed with us. Our community has been great.”
