CHICO — Classes began Monday for Chico State and Butte College, and Tuesday for the Chico Unified School District. Here’s a summary of highlights from each.
Butte College
According to Christian Gutierrez, public relations coordinator, Butte launched the fall semester Monday with 8,839 Students — an increase of 3.08% compared to the start of the fall 2022 semester.
The average unit load is up about 5%, meaning that students — on average — are taking more units, Gutierrez said.
Butte’s Student Life Office has compiled a first-month calendar of events designed to extend a welcome to students. Welcome activities are scheduled for this week at the main campus, 3536 Butte Campus Drive, as well as the Chico and Glenn centers, in addition to themed activities throughout the month.
Butte invites students to “Donuts With the Dean” and meet Bobby Withrow-Clark, the school’s dean of students, in Campus Center Room 141 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Thursday. Free doughnuts will be available for attendees as the dean explains how his office can support students’ education efforts.
Each student can also take advantage of a five-minute counseling session, designed to quickly answer questions and get students on their way. These drop-in sessions are available at the main campus 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Thursday in Student and Administrative Services Room 134; and at the Chico Center 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. today and 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday.
Chico State
Sean Murphy, media relations coordinator at Chico State, said the university had some impressive totals to share in the opening week of classes, which began Monday.
Among new students, 2,165 were “first-time in college” enrollees, an increase of 8% compared to last year. There are 1,770 transfer students, a 40% increase over last year, and 3,935 total enrollees, a boost of 20% compared to 2022.
Chico State has increased its academic offerings to 392 this year, compared to 385 last year at this time.
For the seventh year, Chico State’s “Ask Me” tables are providing answers to students. The program began with a single table in 2017, but there are now six tables at each campus entrance.
Approximately 250 staff, administration and faculty volunteers signed up to help at the tables. These volunteers assisted 1,050 students Monday, compared to 1,700 total last year.
Away from the books, Chico State’s Adventure Outings offers recreational opportunities to students in the form of 25 trips, trainings and outdoor experiences.
The Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve is the California State University system’s largest contiguous ecological reserve or field station, as well as one of the state’s largest college- or university-operated reserves.
Chico Unified School District
Tim Cariss, CUSD’s director of assessment and accountability, said he estimated 12,000 students during Tuesday’s first day of classes. There were 11,762 students enrolled as of June 2, the final day of the 2022-23 academic year.
“It’s still early,” Cariss explained for the rough number. “It takes until early October to see where we’ll be for the rest of the year. There will be people enrolling and then moving, or enrolling and then moving to a charter (school). We’ll also have more kids moving into town.”
Cariss said there has been an increase in attendance, good news since the district’s goal is 95.5%. There was a 94% attendance rate in 2022-23.
He said test scores “went up a little bit” in the three areas the state measures: math, science and English language arts. Just how much is not available yet, Cariss said. “Preliminary figures aren’t publicly available” until later in the school year.
Nonetheless, Cariss said the school year started in fine form, if Tuesday was an indicator.
“We (district personnel) each drove around to a few schools and saw a lot of happy parents and kids,” he said.
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