The Saint

Story by News Editor Zoebelle Bean

On Tuesday, November 7, a panel was held addressing the pilot program of the block schedule and where we stand as a college. The block program is only available to freshmen at the moment and, as of today, there are 70 students currently enrolled. 

Brian Matzke, Interim Vice President of Enrollment Management, says, “The priority deadline was in March and there were 139 people who wanted it. We only had 70 spots available so we filled them all and actually had to convince some people out of it.”

Since the introduction of the block-style schedule, applications have risen by 31.7%. This is what the college wants– to stand out– and it’s working. The goal of the introduction of the block schedule is to make Aquinas College unique when seniors and transfer students make their decision to apply here. If Aquinas offers this program, it incentivizes people to apply because we would be one of a few in the country and the first in the midwest to offer this opportunity. 

The block isn’t a traditional high-school-style schedule. Instead, Aquinas advertises it as “one class at a time.” This means that you only take one class for three weeks, having four classes total in a semester. During these three weeks, you are immersed in this one class from 9:00 am-12:00 pm every day, Monday through Friday, for three weeks, without any other classes. The purpose of this is to help a student focus more deeply on their studies. No other classes and no other distractions have proven to help memory retention and skill issues. 

According to an anonymous student at the panel, “It was a dream schedule on paper. Who wouldn’t want one class at a time? Mental health is very good… I’m actually loving the learning process and actually studying.”

Though the block schedule seems very enticing to some, there are still several concerns that are in the process of being addressed. These include worries about art, music, science, and math degrees since these classes are unique in the manner in which they progress. Science and math in particular need to be continually re-learned and learned in a certain order so it makes sense. Another worry is the matter of teaching content-heavy courses without diluting it. If a class only runs for three weeks at a time, the material must either be compressed or modified to accommodate the short time period.

The panel addressed these concerns with reassurances that these matters are being dealt with at the moment and, though they don’t have all of the answers yet, these are legitimate concerns that they are ready to tackle. The panel proposed that these issues could be resolved since several other colleges and universities have successfully implemented the block style and reported numerous benefits from it, including Cornell College, University of Montana-Western, and Colorado College.

While the block schedule still has several issues to work out, the results don’t lie: students are enjoying this new opportunity and the college looks forward to changes to come. In the meantime, The Saint will continue to provide updates on this change.

Featured image courtesy of parade.com