News Photo by Crystal Nelson Alpena Community College students Mary Burns and Megan Rasmussen on Monday work on the computers in the college library as classes resumed in-person for the first time since March.

ALPENA — Alpena Community College’s campus was bustling with activity on Monday as all students were able to attend classes in-person there for the first time in five months.

ACC was forced to close its campus to the public in March after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered most businesses and all schools to close to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The majority of college students were forced to finish the spring semester online.

“I am happy to be back,” ACC student Kaiya Little said. “I was going a little stir crazy sitting at home without much to do.”

Little is still in high school but is enrolled at ACC through a dual-enrollment program to earn credits toward her associate degree. She said she tends to get distracted during online classes and prefers in-person learning with a teacher is present.

The college campus looked a little different on Monday, with students masking up to enter the buildings. Tables with masks and hand sanitizer, some of which were manned by faculty, greeted students upon entering.

Classrooms had been set up to allow for social distancing, with desks that usually seat two students set up for only one. When seats in those classrooms run out, students are moved to overflow rooms, where they see the instructor through a videoconferencing system.

The college library was also arranged in a way that kept space between students while they used the computers. A sign-in sheet tracks every person who enters the library in case the local health department needs it for tracing individuals with whom a coronavirus-infected person came in contact.

Students Mary Burns and Megan Rasmussen said they were comfortable attending college in-person on Monday.

“I think everything is really spaced out and clean,” Burns, who is attending college as part of the Alpena Early College program, said.

Alpena Early College is a program that allows Alpena High School students to attend college during their senior year to earn credits toward their associate degree.

Burns is attending classes in-person this year, while Rasmussen is taking a couple of courses in person and a couple of other courses online. Rasmussen said she learns better when attending classes in-person.

The number of students enrolled in classes and the number of credit hours students are taking this year were down compared to figures from the first day of school last year, according to data provided by Jay Walterreit, ACC’s director of public information and marketing.

Walterreit said 1,391 students were enrolled in the college as of Monday, an 8.6% decrease from the first day of school last year, and that the number of credit hours decreased by 6.8%, to 13,940 credit hours this year.

“While ACC is down in headcount and credit hours compared to last year, the decline is absorbable and won’t have any impact on our operations,” Walterreit said in an email to The News. “Most other Michigan community colleges are also down as compared to last year, some quite significantly.”

College officials are still expecting more than 50 high school students to sign up for Alpena Early College courses, Walterreit said.

Registration for classes is open until 4:30 p.m. Friday, although students are allowed to drop a class or make some changes to their schedule next week.