ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Another fall semester began this week at Bay College.
On Thursday, Escanaba faculty and staff welcomed students to Bay’s Escanaba campus with a luncheon outside the Besse Center.
“It’s a chance for students to get free food, and that’s always my ploy, right?” laughed Bay College President Dr. Nerita Hughes. “I go into the different classrooms, let them know who I am, and then tell them to come on and have some free food and enjoy resources as well. We have our vendors that are either from our student clubs or from the community, where students can engage and kind of know what’s here.”
In 2024, Bay enjoyed its highest enrollment in a decade, followed by another year of growth in 2025. Although this year’s numbers are still coming in as students register for classes, Hughes says it is shaping up to be another strong semester.
“I just looked at it today and, literally, we’ve gone up between 15 and 20 students just from yesterday,” she said. “I think this is going to be another great year.”
While that is true for students, it is also true for the wider campus community.
“Every October, all community colleges will submit what’s called a capital outlay plan,” Dr. Hughes explained. “This fiscal year, we were actually approved for what’s called our capital outlay construction authorization.”
Currently, the college’s welding lab and shipping center share a building. Bay is developing plans to decrease the shipping center’s footprint and to expand the welding lab into a Manufacturing Innovation Center.
“It will be able to allow for a flexible workspace,” said Dr. Hughes. “It’s something that I know our manufacturers right around this area are looking forward to, a way for us to partner with business and industry, a way for us to utilize our equipment and our facilities for competency-based learning for their employees.”
The hope is for that project to begin in the spring. Until then, Dr. Hughes encourages students to get involved in life on and around campus, to not be afraid to ask questions, and to take advantage of the opportunities available to them at Bay College.
“Trust in your gut,” she said. “Experience. Explore. Do something that you’ve never done before. We are here to help you. That’s a part of our mission, right? Student success, community success, and a culture of success. We would hope that as you are going down your educational journey, that we would be able to walk alongside with you every step of the way.”
Visit baycollege.edu for information on how to register for classes this semester.
