SARANAC LAKE — North Country Community College students will return to the 2021 spring semester on Feb. 1, one week later than usual; take no spring break and finish the semester on the usual date, May 13.

NCCC announced the revised academic calendar last week, college spokesperson Chris Knight said, choosing to follow the rest of the State University of New York system.

“I know there were people who wanted to keep spring break because it would be a good time for people to have kind of a mental health break or a relaxation break away from a continuous block of study,” Knight said. “We ultimately thought it was best to do what our other partners in SUNY were doing.”

Jessica Kemp, a business major and student trustee on the NCCC Board of Trustees, said she is worried about her fellow students’ mental health with no spring break this coming semester.

Kemp said she understands the college administration’s reasoning, but that she knows students need a “respite from the grind.”

“I’m nervous going into this semester that we’ll all have our noses to the grindstone and just get so burned out and exhausted that our quality of education and our desire to become more educated will kind of fizzle out,” Kemp said.

Knight said the college’s decision took place after “careful deliberation,” during which it considered feedback from students, faculty and staff.

“We have been and remain committed to taking steps we can take to help keep our campus and local communities safe,” NCCC President Joe Keegan said in a press release. “It is in that spirit that we have made the decision to not hold a formal spring break for the upcoming semester.”

Knight said spring semester classes will be held almost exclusively online, just as the fall semester had been, so there are not many students living on campus. He said around 40 students involved in the Radiologic Technology and Massage Therapy programs are still learning on campus, but there are currently no residential students on campus. (An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that these students were taking medical classes and some were living on campus.) Students and staff on campus are tested for COVID-19 regularly.

Because of this, he said spring break is not as big a concern for NCCC as other colleges, but the college believes holding a spring break could encourage some to travel for vacation, which it is trying to avoid.

Kemp said the student government association is not in favor of the spring break decision. She was unhappy with the decision, but said she believes the college will do a good job helping students through the semester.

Kemp said NCCC has been focused on student emotions, which she appreciates. Staff at the college keep track of students online, making sure they are getting work done and feeling OK.

“I have not had a single person at North Country, on the faculty or staff, say ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have time to meet with you,'” Kemp said.

Knight said students were asked in a survey if they would rather start one week late or end one week early. The college decided to start the semester late. (Information about the survey from an earlier version of the story was corrected.)

The first day of classes for the spring semester will now be Feb. 1, instead of Jan. 25. The college will be registering new students for spring semester classes up until the day they start, which is a normal practice for the college, Knight said.

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Looking back at the fall

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Knight said college education during the coronavirus pandemic has not been ideal. He said NCCC has tried to give students the same quality of education they would usually get, but without personal interaction, it is hard to give that.

“It was not what they wanted in many cases,” Knight said. “We would have liked to have been in person.”

He said a COVID-19 task force made up of faculty, staff and administration, which takes student input, has been the guiding group for NCCC’s COVID-19 plans.

Knight said enrollment for the fall semester dropped 3 or 4%, overall.

“Considering everything, we thought that was not as bad as it could have been,” Knight said. “We have been down but not in any way that makes us have to make any significant cutbacks.”

Kemp said the past semester was a difficult “journey,” but that a surprising sense of community helped her get through it. She said the shared hardships students feel have brought them together. They are all isolated, she said, but are experiencing the same things and have supported each other.

There are good days and bad days, she said. Online classes are not every student’s forte, she added, and many have struggled with not being in person. Meanwhile, some students thrive online.

She said she misses collaboration — the energy of working on a project in a room with a group of classmates — the most.

“Online learning has been a great lesson in self-dicipline,” Kemp said.

Kemp, who moved back to Saranac Lake from New York City in the spring when things were closing down in New York due to the pandemic, now works a full-time job during the day, and returns home at night to work on her two courses from her dedicated study room. Kemp, who previously attended college from 2013 to 2017, said it is hard to stay on task and do homework with the distraction of being at home.

“So much of me wants to relax and watch TV after dinner, but I owe it to myself to finish my courses and learn as much as I can,” she said. “I really have to commit to myself and say ‘Listen, you have to do your homework from 6 to 9 (p.m.)'”

On the flip side, Kemp also struggles with when to walk away from work. Being at home, she said she can just keep working and has to remind herself to take breaks. She said it is a lot of responsibility she has been thrust into.

Kemp does not feel alone in these challenges and is interested to look back years from now on how this time shaped her generation.

Knight said NCCC is planning another virtual commencement ceremony in May, similar to the one held last year.