Lamar State College Orange President Dr. Thomas Johnson announced Wednesday that the two-year college in downtown Orange has set a new summer enrollment record with 1,019 students.

That number represents the number of students enrolled for classes as of June 3. He expects it to be broken many times before the summer semesters end in August.

"It's a great day. I'm very excited," Johnson said. "We have made lemonade out of lemons this year."

Johnson was referring to the coronavirus pandemic which has switched most of the school's classes to online with only a few students in technical courses like nursing and instrumentation meeting on campus, in small groups that meet social distancing guidelines.

A year ago, LSCO summer enrollment was 718 students, so the Wednesday number marked a 42 percent increase in one year.

The previous summer enrollment high for LSCO was 1,012, Johnson said.