Students and professors in about 15 classes meet at off-campus locations because of lack of facilities available at GCC.

According to Vice President of Instructional Services Dawn Lindsay, the allocation of classes to an off-site location like Glendale
High School is a way for the college to meet the needs of the students in the community.

“There are times when we have a demand for more classes than we have classrooms available,” she said. “In wanting to meet the goals of the students, we have to look at outside locations. So we use the classrooms because they are already developed with teaching tools. It’s more of a convenience for students.”

Students may have noticed that several classes are located at Glendale High instead of GCC. They are all alloted classes that have been set off campus to make up for the needed classroom space. “They are all in the bungalows next to the main parking lot,” said Lindsay.

“They’re really nice classrooms and we prefer to have the classes within the proximity of each other,” she said. “We [the school] pay an administration to stay on the campus so it is easier for them to manage and make sure that everything
is alright.”

Yet, from a student perspective, some students may be hesitant about registering for a class set off-campus like Sharon Obsatz’s Tuesday Journalism 102 class at Glendale High. She said that students
may not want to take her class or any other allocated class because “there’s a stigma [mainly among recent high school graduates]
about ‘I just came out of high school and I don’t want to go back to a high school.'”

“[However], students choose if they want to take the class placed off campus,” said Lindsay. “They are not high school classes. It’s an image we have to overcome. We have to do better campaigning on what classes are available where and why.”

“Those classes are really designed
for the students’ convenience and our growth [as a school],” she said. “We want everyone
to be involved and those classes are open to anyone who wants to take the class.”

For Obsatz’s journalism course, she said she has a total of 13 students.

“My class is small,” she said. “[The students] are dedicated, which is good, but it is definitely challenging.”

Although, according to several students in her class, there are no negative aspects in taking a class off-site. Environmental Science student Brittney Reid said that was pretty reluctant about taking a class located at a high school. “I needed the class and I didn’t know it was here,” she said.

“I figured that I could drop it if it didn’t work out,” she said. “I live in Atwater Village and I work at Silver Lake. There’s no parking frenzy for me after work and I’m not stressed when I walk into class because of parking. I would have to say it’s better because it’s so much quicker for me to come here [at Glendale High] than to GCC.”

“I just found out that the class was at Glendale High [when the semester started],” said Broadcast Journalism student Allan Markatian.

“I live about a block away from here [Glendale high] and it was a convenience for me. There aren’t any negatives [about going
to an allocated classroom]
for me.”

Journalism student Edgar Karapetyan
lives in Sunland and said that the parking is better. “I don’t have to leave my house earlier and [the class’s location] has been a positive for me,” he said. “There are no cons. It’s great. It’s not too crowded, it’s like high school.”

However, Media Arts student Jeff Davis said that “you don’t even realize you’re at a high school unless you have to use the restroom. Then you see all the school stuff written all over the walls.”

“I didn’t even know the class was off campus until I signed up for it,” said Davis. “I like it [the class] off campus, the parking is better and it’s closer to home. I could walk here.”

Although, opting to sign up for a class that was set aside to a site off campus is the student’s choice. If they do not realize that the class is not located on campus,
Lindsay said that “it could be an issue that they don’t know how to read the schedule. It happens to everyone.”

“There are plenty of benefits,” she said. “It’s finding what’s more convenient for the student. It’s really about choices and choosing whether they want classes on campus or go off-site.