Las Positas College is experiencing record demand this fall with the Honors Program capped and waitlisted, the nationally ranked speech team at capacity and cultural organizations drawing bigger crowds.
What was once considered a commuter school is becoming a destination. Enrollment and extracurricular participation are on the rise. The shift marks a new era for Las Positas — one defined by opportunity and competition.
The biggest sign of growth is the Honors Program, which reached capacity this semester and now has a waitlist of more than 100 students, the first in the program’s history. Students say the chance to do independent research and present at symposiums is a major draw, and many choose LPC over closer community colleges for that reason.
Irena Keller, director of the Honors program, said demand started climbing last year when enrollment reached nearly 500 students.
“It was the first time so many students participated in the Honors Program, and there was a lot of overload on faculty, and students had trouble finding honors contracts,” she said.
Faculty mentors later agreed to cap enrollment at about 300 students. This fall, more than 320 students are already enrolled, with others waitlisted. Keller noted that many honors projects need one-on-one mentoring, and most faculty who take on that responsibility are not compensated.
She said the growth comes from several factors, including outreach at campus events and the successor students who transferred on to four-year universities.
“From all the success stories, it became apparent that all of the students going to all of these amazing places like Stanford, Yale and Columbia, all of them are coming from Honors Program,” Keller said. “The word got out.”
These opportunities are a big incentive for students choosing to attend LPC.
“The reason that we chose LPC, compared to our closer community college, is because of the Honors Program,” said Rifa Sipai, president of the Honors Club.
The increased demand is not just limited to academics. Student clubs and cultural organizations are also seeing more participation.
Yusef Salihi, president of the Afghan Student Association and treasurer of the Economics of Business Ownership Club, said events like the club fair have helped more students get involved.
“The avenues that Las Positas is able to give to new students allow everybody to have new chances and new opportunities,” Salihi said.
He added that support from staff members made it possible to launch the association, which he created to provide an open community for sharing Afghan culture, music, food and ideas.
Other groups on campus report a similar growth. Savannah Richardson, coordinator of the Black Cultural Resource Center in the Umoja learning community, said she has seen more student engagement this year.
“I think clubs are becoming a bigger part of campus life due to the fact that it’s students with their own synergy creating all these different clubs for students to have access to different things,” Richardson said.
Richardson added that much of that interest is driven by word of mouth.
“Awareness, yeah, and students communicating with other students about what’s going on campus and letting them know the value of what they’re a part of,” she said.
The growth of new clubs and cultural communities points to students seeking more ways to connect beyond the classroom.
The LPC Speech Team, one of the top forensics programs in the nation, also filled its roster this semester. Director Tim Heisler said interest has shifted in recent years, with more students walking onto the team themselves than recruited from classrooms.
He credited the team’s success over the past five years, including national awards and more than a dozen individual gold medals, for its rising profile. That recognition, he said, has led to more students wanting to join than the team can accommodate.
“Because of our tremendous success over the past five years, the forensics program now advertises itself,” Heisler said.
With only two coaches and a capacity of 15 students, the team cannot expand further. Funding has also been a challenge.
“Our budget is currently smaller than it was 20 years ago,” Heisler said. “Operating costs have more than doubled over that same time. As a result, we are restricted from fully doing what we want to do, despite student demand.”
Even so, Heisler did say that word of mouth continues to draw students in, forcing some to audit the class because official spots are full.
Across academics, clubs and competitive teams, the pattern is the same: students are finding out about opportunities at Las Positas from each other –– and signing up.
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TOP PHOTO: HONORS CLUB President Rifa Sipai talks with a student at Welcome Back Week. (Photo by Sam Barnes/The Express)
Kian Amininejad is the News Editor of The Express. Follow him on X, @Kian_Amininejad.
