NEWS

Free College Day welcomes community members to WCC

Charlie Trumbull, Courtney Prielipp
The Washtenaw Voice

On April 13, WCC opened its doors to the community for Free College Day for the first time in person since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Veronica Capraru (left), Michelle Hanke (middle), and Zoe Rezler are employees of WCC helping people sign in for free college day. Courtney Prielipp | Washtenaw Voice

This in-person event was the finale to Free College Week which had been offering courses online. Courses covered all subjects from chemistry to ceramics to improv acting, making campus bustle with life.

The inspiration for the event is a desire to give back to the community that already supports WCC students every year; with the Student Development and Activities office along with 15 professors hosting more than 20 classes throughout the day.

Lisa Wheeler, one of the plan coordinators, taking a photo with Alpha. Courtney Prielipp | Washtenaw Voice.

“Two weeks ago we were looking at 200 [attendees] that signed up for this event,” said WCC’s Supervisor of Student Activities Christy Main. “As of this morning we had over 300.”

Popular courses like “A Short History of Fake News”, “Dinosaurs: An Evolutionary Success Story,” HVAC maintenance, and song recording sessions with the music department were all featured to the hundreds of attendees.

Main believes this is a great measurement of how much the community supports the school and appreciates free classes. She also hopes the event will boost enrollment numbers for the fall semester.

A chemical reaction of combustion shown during Exploring Chemistry. Courtney Prielipp | Washtenaw Voice.

Zoology professor David Wooten taught an introductory lesson on dinosaurs to an audience of attendees at the event, saying he is a huge supporter of Free College Week “because it brings education accessibility to the community.”

“Come to campus, come walk the nature trail, come sit in on some of these talks, sit down and feel what it’s like to be in a college classroom,” he said.

Community member Kay Laskowski attended WCC in the early 90s when the college only consisted of the student center and LA buildings. She took the improv class instructed by professor Hope Bernhard with excitement.

Tracy Schwab, a professor at WCC (safety goggles to the right), helping students understand the molecule structure that they are building. Courtney Prielipp | Washtenaw Voice.

“I want to finally be retired so I can take all these classes,” she said.

Laskowski was amazed by how fun the improv class was, saying, “[Bernhard] made it so easy and seamless. I was afraid to come but I am so glad I did.”

When describing her reaction on returning to the campus, Laskowski said, “just the energy of walking through the cafeteria was like, ‘oh my god!’ It just felt really great for me.”