Summer session is a chance to catch up, get creative

Western's summer session is a great chance to catch up on credits, get ahead on prerequisites, or learn something new.

Each year, more than 3,000 students attend summer session, when class sizes are smaller and the courses themselves are shorter, from three days to nine weeks.

"Summer is really a chance for faculty to be creative in their classes and offer new and different things they can't do during the academic year," says Marlene Harlan, Western's director of Summer Programs and Marketing. "It's a great opportunity for students to venture out and try something different."

Examples of creative courses this summer include "Sustainable Bellingham," "Natural History of Northwest Birds" and "Current Environmental Topics: Photography."

Summer session also offers intensive language courses. Students can take a year's worth of French, German or Spanish during the summer. Classes in Italian, Portuguese and Japanese are also offered.

New this year are many additional online courses, taught by WWU faculty, allowing more students to take a summer course without staying in Bellingham. The two-dozen online courses include many that satisfy General University Requirements for graduation.

And summer session offerings also include more faculty-led travel courses than ever. Destinations include Senegal, China, India, Greece, Italy and Peru.

Finally, summer session is a bargain for out-of-state students, whose tuition and fees are just a bit more than what their in-state classmates pay.

Besides, Harlan says, "the weather – you can't beat it. It's a great time to be here in Bellingham."