When Scheduling Your Courses, Please Consider These Guidelines:

1. Meet with your academic advisor before your window opens so that you are ready to schedule classes.

2. Research available course offerings online in advance – writing down your choices (and backup choices) in advance can make your registration session go more smoothly and quickly.

3. Consider your disability-related needs and issues when scheduling. Some factors to consider might be:

► What time of day do the classes meet?

► How often do classes meet?

► Can you handle back-to-back classes, or do you need breaks in between?

► Is your coursework balanced so that you avoid an overload?

► Is there a type of work that is affected by your disability? (For example, if you have a learning disability in reading, can you handle three classes that involve a considerable amount of reading?)

► If you have physical energy limitations, are you able to get to class on time?

Ramadan is the 9^th month of the Islamic calendar and this year it begins at sunset on April 12th and is expected to end May 12^th. This is considered as the holiest season in the Islamic year and is honored as the time when the Qu’ran (Islamic holy book) was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. This month has strict religious requirements for Muslims including fasting from food and drink from sun up until sun down for 10 to 21 hours depending on where they are located in the world. In Pennsylvania Muslims must fast approximately 16 hours or more per day this year.

Ramadan is also a time when individuals renew their faith and raise their level of devotion to prayer, charity, and kindness. This can be a difficult time for students to balance priorities between their class or work responsibilities and their faith. There are different levels of individual commitment to observing Ramadan so it is difficult to make generalities. However, to model HACC’s core value of Inclusivity and to best support student success during this month please consider the following:

1. It’s difficult to identify who is observing Ramadan.

Not all Muslim people are Arab. Not all Arab people are Muslim. Not all Muslim women wear a veil. Not all Muslim men have a beard. Muslim people include all ethnicities. Converts to the religion often face their own set of difficulties due to assumptions made by others because of their appearance.

2. Physiological effects of fasting may (or may not) be difficult.

Drastically changing eating habits (and schedule changes referenced below) can cause changes to mood, motivation, concentration, and energy level which impacts student class participation. Public speaking, presentations, and strenuous physical exercises can be difficult when you are fasting from food and water.

Fasting can also lead to amazing self-discipline and control. Those who fast during Ramadan often point out all the things we are capable of accomplishing while fasting and that several important battles were fought by armies who were fasting for Ramadan. HACC has dedicated faculty, professionals, and students who begin their day very early and end with classes late in the evening while fasting

3. Schedules change to accommodate religious obligations.

Lifestyle tends to shift to nighttime hours during Ramadan. In majority Muslim countries, it’s not unusual for a family to make a trip to the local park for a picnic at midnight or to head to the shopping mall at 2 a.m. HACC students often “break the fast” in group gatherings at night that include preparing meals together, religious study, and Quran reading. Students may carry additional responsibilities for preparing an elaborate meal for their household to break the fast each day. It is also traditional to take a pre-dawn meal, “Suhoor,” to prepare for the daily fast. Individuals nap during the day to compensate for late night and early morning activities.

4. Formal prayers are an obligation five times a day.

In Muslim majority countries, life often stops for individuals to observe mandatory prayer times every day. Like Sunday services in Christianity, it’s obligatory for Muslim men to

attend mid-day prayer at the mosque on Fridays while women may pray at home if they prefer. Ramadan is considered an opportunity to renew dedication to prayer. Allowing students the freedom to turn off their cameras during Zoom meetings and to step away during class creates an atmosphere of respect and belonging.

Prayer times change throughout the year according to the length of the days and can be found online from multiple sources: https://www.islamicfinder.org/

5. Eid holidays

Islam has two major holidays. Eid al-Fitr is at the end of Ramadan and is celebrated with family and friends with decadent food and gifts. This year the Eid -al-fitr holiday is expected to begin at sunset on Wednesday, May 12, 2021, and end the following day. The other major holiday, Eid al-Adha, will begin on the evening of Monday, July 19, 2021.

What can HACC faculty and staff do to support students?

1. Share Ramadan greetings. “Happy Ramadan,” “Ramadan Kareem,” and “Ramadan Mubarak” are all appropriate ways to acknowledge someone observing Ramadan. Mubarak means “blessed” and Kareem “generous,” as in “May Ramadan be generous to you.”

2. Acknowledge to the class that you’re aware of Ramadan and ask students to contact you if they require any flexibility due to religious obligations. Address religious observance accommodation in the class syllabus. Ramadan will overlap with the spring semester for the next 10 years. A schedule can be found online: https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/ramadan-begins

3. Flexibility means a lot. Please be as flexible as possible with schedule, attendance, deadlines, and exam times. Provide class notes or study guides for students to catch up on missed work. Allow student presentations to be recorded during non-fasting hours and shared later. Utilize HACC’s Academic Make-Up Testing to allow students to take proctored exams at a time that is better for them.

4. Allow students to be excused from any events or assignments involving food during fasting hours. For events on campus with food, consider providing takeaway containers for students or small care packages for Muslim students to take to break the fast at the appropriate time.

Troy Houser is a former HACC student who transferred to Temple University and was recently accepted into the University of Oregon’s cognitive neuroscience program as a Ph.D. student, where he will study perception and memory phenomena with neuroimaging techniques. As we celebrate Community College month this April, Troy is a great example of what happens when students combine their interests in the humanities and science here at HACC.

The future-Dr. Houser explained that “HACC instilled within me a set of values that may seem to contrast with what I do now but that have served as scaffolding for all my pursuits. Recently, many studies have elucidated the role that sleep has in enhancing cognitive abilities—in other words, learning how to sleep will help us learn better. Similarly, HACC taught me how to learn, how to appreciate learning, how to maintain a child-like wonder when I look at the world and to question that world like a scientist.”

As he thinks about his future goals and embarking upon the demanding intellectual environment of a Ph.D. program, Troy said that he feels well-prepared for the rigor ahead. He cited examples of specific experiences here at HACC that helped prepare him along the way.

“I spent countless hours in Professor Lindoefer’s office to learn and pass algebra class. Professor Gainor and I philosophized on walks around campus multiple times a week. Professor Liu organized building a community garden among students and others that live in Harrisburg. I have chatted with Professors Gao (who also led me outside the country for the first time to China) and Zinsky about my future plans many times outside of the classroom. Professor Balic was extremely patient in teaching me the significance of poetry and literature and enabled me to see Washington D.C. for the first time. Professor Keenan has been consistently supporting my dreams from the first time I walked into her English class (late!) and is someone who continues to guide and help me on my journey. My point in mentioning this non-exhaustive list is that HACC professors live what they teach about. Their actions embody a fun, progressive, enriching, practical, and enlightening education.”

We wish Troy the best of luck as he makes a move across the country to pursue his academic future. We also look forward to welcoming him back to HACC as Dr. Houser!