Wintermester, a compressed three-week term offered between the end of the fall semester and the beginning of the spring semester, has been canceled this year.
Wintermester started in 2012 and has since become a great way for students to catch up or to get ahead on studies. While Lipscomb changes its data management system, evaluations are being done to the condensed semester, all to make sure it’s best for both the students and the school.
By canceling the winter semester this year, some students will be delaying their graduation dates by an entire semester.
“If there were wintermester classes still offered, I would be taking over the amount that allows me to use my scholarship,” said junior Makena Sneed, “meaning I would be using nearly a full semester of the leftover gen-ed classes that I have. So it’s going to push my graduation date back a semester.”
Faculty and staff are trying to work with students who may have to graduate late.
“There may be some students who were planning on taking Wintermester courses to try to get ahead or get those last few credits before graduation,” Chaudoin said. “Academic advisors are aware of this and are going to be working with students very proactively to make sure they have other options available.”
“As we were looking at the number of students that have participated [in Wintermester], it’s very small, and it is a lot to squeeze into that three-week period of time…even though I know there were some awesome classes offered,” said Kim Chaudoin, assistant vice president for public relations and communication.
There is no word if wintermester will be added again next year, as the University is currently re-evaluating the short semester.
“So what we are going to do is push pause on that and just for this Wintermester — take a look and evaluate and see what we might want to do moving forward,” Chaudoin said.
Photo by Anna Rogers