CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE — Atlantic Cape Community College listened to its students, Krista Fitzsimons said.
She is the director of the school’s Cape May County campus, set to celebrate 20 years at an event planned for Saturday, and the director of community outreach.
Enrollment at the Cape campus is up, Fitzsimons said, and new programs are increasing the school’s visibility in the community.
Fitzsimons, who also serves on the Wildwood Board of Commissioners, started the college job about three years ago after working in county government.
Prior to that, she worked for the Morey’s organization in Wildwood, in a marketing position she said is similar to her current job.
Instead of ride tickets sold or hotel rooms booked, her metric now is students enrolled. That’s seen an increase of about 10% at the county campus compared to last year, according to college officials.
One area of focus has been making sure students could complete a degree entirely at the Cape campus. Several degrees, in fact.
“That was one of the complaints I heard when I first got here, that you couldn’t start and finish a degree here at the Cape May County campus. I heard that loud and clear,” Fitzsimons said.
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There were several programs that could be started at the Cape May Court House campus, but almost all had some requirements that would mean a trip to the main campus in Mays Landing, a drive of about 50 minutes from the Cape campus, and far longer for those using public transportation.
“That was a legitimate complaint. That’s no longer the case,” Fitzsimons said. “Now, you can’t start and finish all 49 degrees that Atlantic Cape offers, right?”
But some of the most popular programs can be completed entirely at the Cape May County campus, she said.
Enrollment at the county campus has been a major concern for years, with a decade of declines reported starting in 2010. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cape campus had fewer students enrolled than before the satellite campus was built 20 years ago, when classes were held in a rented space in Rio Grande.
Over the past three years, Fitzsimons said, she has sought to raise the profile of the campus, not just by getting more students enrolled but also bringing in the community, with plans for yoga classes and offerings in art, continuing education, enrichment programs and special events like the one planned for Saturday.
That event will also celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with live music and salsa dance lessons co-sponsored by the Puerto Rican Action Committee.
Also planned are free food and campus tours from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 341 Court House-South Dennis Road.
It’s a way to introduce more people to the campus, Fitzsimons said, acknowledging that even after 20 years, many in Cape May County do not know the campus is there, tucked behind a line of trees by the back entrance of the Cape May County Park and Zoo.
Atlantic Cape Community College is hosting a series of events this week to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and to honor local veterans.
People who are familiar with the campus will be more likely to enroll in a class or attend an event, Fitzsimons said.
A December 2024 report from the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education outlines a significant drop in enrollments across the state and throughout the country during the pandemic, and some signs of recovery, including at community colleges.
But it also showed a decrease of more than 7% for Atlantic Cape. But the same report shows a mixed bag statewide, with some enrollments increasing while others drop.
Nationally, community college enrollments hit a peak in 2010, but then began to fall each autumn.
Enrollment numbers change each year, Fitzsimons said.
Cape May County faces additional pressures, with an aging population and fewer young families. That has led the campus to offer more enrichment and continuing education programs, Fitzsimons said.
On a sunny October weekday morning, a few students filed out of class and a few more worked on their laptops or in the computer lab. A large lecture hall downstairs, the science labs upstairs and most of the classrooms were empty, as was a café to the left of the main entrance.
The campus is far busier for the evening classes, Fitzsimons said, showing off medical labs with practice dummies and a science lab lined with plastic skeletons. While a similar, decorated skeleton in the school library seems set for Halloween, these are not decorative but are teaching tools, as are the models of human bodies lined up in the corner.
Singer/songwriter Mary Roth will perform her “Enchanting Appalachia” show from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Sea Isle City branch of the Cape May County Library.
Fitzsimons said the campus is working closely with Cooper University Hospital, which took over the former Cape Regional Medical Center a few miles away last year. That has included offering facilities for training.
“We’re really trying to be very good neighbors,” Fitzsimons said. “We’ve done a lot of things with them already.”
A culinary class was underway, with students in chef’s whites cutting vegetables. The culinary arts program began more than a decade ago, but in some years there were not enough students in the program to offer the classes at the Cape location. Now, she said, enrollment has climbed to the point where the program is active on the Cape campus.
The zoo is close to the campus, and now has a presence in the school, with the creation of a wing that is named for the late John Ernst, the zoo veterinarian and assistant director who died in 2023.
Down a hallway decorated with nature scenes and a life-size model giraffe, zoo staff work with reptiles, birds and mammals and hold educational events.
Another recent change came with the creation of the Cape May County Biz Hub at the school, offering resources to small business owners and potential business owners, including classes, guidance and events.
The college also hosts a gathering of nonprofits, Fitzsimons said, which allows the members to get together and compare notes and offers access to a program that helps organizations apply for grant funding.
There are about 350 students enrolled at the Cape May County campus, Fitzsimons said. A report from 2023 shows the total enrollment for Atlantic Cape at more than 4,000, with 1,737 full-time students.
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Atlantic Community College dates to 1964, with the Mays Landing campus opening a few years later, in 1968, and an Atlantic City campus opening in the 1980s.
Cape May County, meanwhile, remained the only county without its own community college. In 1999, the Atlantic County college became Atlantic Cape, but a Cape May County campus was still years away.
As a member of Cape May County government, then called a freeholder, U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew pushed for a county campus. The project faced a lengthy approval process and delays over concerns about endangered species at the site.
“There were plenty of people who thought it couldn’t be done, but we proved that when there’s a will, there’s a way,” Van Drew said Monday. “I’m proud to see what it has become, and to see it thriving 20 years later. The things we promised back then have come to life, and it’s rewarding to see the students and the community benefit from it.”
Len Desiderio, the director of the Cape May County Board of Commissioners, said that county government remains committed to supporting continued growth at the Cape campus.
“We value our longstanding partnership with ACCC and look forward to working together to expand educational opportunities for our residents,” he said. “From supporting ACCC programs in partnership with our County’s Dr Alex Ernst Zoo education wing, to planning for the future, our relationship with Atlantic Cape continues to work to produce higher education opportunities for the people of this county.”
Contact Bill Barlow:
609-272-7290
bbarlow@pressofac.com
X @jerseynews_bill
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