REDDING, Calif. - The new semester for Shasta College started back on August 17. But the college already announced its spring semester will be staying online.

Shasta College says it decided to make this decision early on to help teachers and professors better prepare for the spring. The college says it also looked at the number of coronavirus cases in neighboring counties.

“We felt that it was important to have those decisions made early and not to have a major switch right as the semester was beginning,” said Joe Wyse, the Superintendent President of the college.

While students are disappointed they won't be able to return in the spring, they understand the reason behind it.

“I was a little sad because I really want to go back to the learning environment in the classroom but I think it'll be for the best and I think we'll adapt to it,” said Danielle Burnett, a full-time student at Shasta College.

But there are still some courses that still need to meet in-person, such as the Fire Academy, nursing, and welding just to name a few. Jay Davis is one of the instructors of the welding class. Davis tells Action News Now he’s had to come up with news ways to teach students.

“We in the welding, the industrial, diesel, automotive, and machine courses are all hands-on,” said Davis.

“We like to be in front of the students and putting on a show and teaching them the exciting world of these things.”

Davis says they haven’t had to reduce the size of their welding class because the lab itself is big enough for social distancing. Students also get to do their exercises in their own individual work booths. Davis also requires students to wear masks and work gloves while inside the lab. The equipment also gets sanitized and wipe down each every day.

“In welding we have a booth for every single student which is basically a small room that each student would go into and do their lab exercises,” said Davis.

Students are also learning to roll with the changes.

“Learning online aspect is kind of hard for me,” said Paul West, a welding student in the class.

“I’m more of hands on person and I like the teacher showing us what to do but I’m working thru it but I talk to the teacher every lab and he shows me how to do things better.”