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Southwestern Michigan College achieved the anticipated enrollment “three-peat” this fall, President Dr. Joseph Odenwald reported to the Board of Trustees at their regular meeting on September 11.

Enrollment shows a 2.8-percent increase in head count and 1.5-percent increase in contact hours, or 2,044 students compared to 1,989 last year at this time. “As I said last month, this cycle has been quite a trip,” Odenwald said. “But we have persisted, and thanks to the hard work of the marketing, admissions, advising and financial aid teams, we have enrolled over 2,000 students again for the first time in five years. This marks only the second time in the past 25 years we have recorded three straight fall-over-fall increases. I want to especially thank Vice President Katie Hannah, who jumped on this train in January and never wavered in her belief that we would make our goal.”

The only time other time SMC has been up three straight falls in the last 25 years was 2008, 2009 and 2010, when the nationwide recession drove record numbers of unemployed workers back to school to retrain for new careers.

“We live in a demographically challenged area with declining numbers of high school students,” said Chairman Tom Jerdon. “And of course we never hope for a recession, so hats off to administration, because this growth does not happen without a lot of hard work all summer and a full commitment to SMC’s mission to provide affordable high-quality education.”

The board recognized Athletics Director Rodell Davis and Chief Marketing Officer Mike O’Brien for the athletics department winning the Michigan Community College Athletics Association’s most prestigious honor for the 2023-24 season. The Charlie Chanter All-Sports Trophy recognizes overall program success among the 24 members of the MCCAA. The Roadrunners fully returned to intercollegiate competition just two years ago after a 25-year hiatus.

The board also acknowledged ten donations to the SMC Foundation and the college totaling $8,465.