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School is Not Out for the Summer

By Nadia Datskiv, Class of 2004

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Click Photo to Enlarge Fulmer speaks to a student in his office.

Click Photo to Enlarge As director of the ALSC, Fulmer stays very busy during the summer months.

During the first week of May, most ORU students go home, embark on missions, or begin internships. But several brave hearts choose to stay on campus for extra classes.

Wanting to graduate early and start their careers is one reason why students go to summer school. According to David Fulmer, director of the Adult Learning Service Center (ALSC), students also want to "increase grade-point average, repeat a course, or reduce their class load during the academic year." The ALSC coordinates summer school and organizes summer schedules.

Although it's tempting to view May, June, and July as lazy vacation days, ORU summer classes are not easy. In fact, "You have to be more disciplined because it's so intense," says Fulmer. Each one of the four separate sessions is three weeks long, with classes lasting three hours a day.

Typically, there is a three to four percent elevation in student enrollment per year. Many factors are involved in the increase, one of which is missions students who decide to pick up summer school while they are debriefing at ORU after their trips.

There are two categories of residential students at ORU in the summer: those taking courses on campus and those enrolled in correspondence courses. Currently, 2,250 students are enrolled in classes on campus, and more than 525 are enrolled in correspondence courses.

If that's not enough to fill the ORU campus, two unique groups arrive here every year during the summer. The first group is comprised of about 30 pastors from Korea who congregate at ORU to work toward their doctor of ministry degrees.

The second group comes to the School of Education's Summer Institute in July. These are teachers and administrators in pursuit of master's or doctoral degrees in education. Attendees spend all day in class for two weeks, earning up to seven credit hours. The School of Education initially conducted this program solely for Christian school educators. Now, public school teachers, administrators, and TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) students also participate.

With its commitment to customer service, ORU is working on a plan for the near future that will involve offering more courses later in the evening for students who work full-time during the day.

Ultimately, of course, summer school is a matter of convenience. From Tulsa, Korea, or points in between, Fulmer says, students "can remain here [at ORU], versus feeling the need to attend a junior college."