POULSBO — The newly paved roads and sidewalks of Olhava currently bisect bare hills that are now awaiting construction of one of the state’s largest new developments.

There is, however, one area there already bustling with activity.

Following an anticipated slow start in January 2004, enrollment at Olympic College Poulsbo is on the upswing with cars constantly streaming to and from State Route 3 and the campus.

The satellite community college, whose network of schools is centered in Bremerton, began spring quarter March 28 to the largest enrollment in its short history. The numbers have come as a surprise to OC administrators.

“I don’t think anyone expected us to be where we are at this point,” said Olympic College Poulsbo Director Kelly Woodward. “This place is already really booming. And we’re going to have to be looking pretty quickly to see how we’re going to manage the growth.”

There are currently 406 full-time students enrolled at the school, compared to 155 when it opened in 2004. And there are 950 full-time and part-time students going to school at the campus, up from 506 in winter quarter of 2004.

The school’s capacity is 750 full-time students.

“And next year, we anticipate that we will reach 1,000 (part-time and full-time students) and 500 (full-time students) pretty easily,” Woodward added. “We’re just continuing to grow and grow.”

The first few weeks of classes give OC administrators a chance to view initial enrollment numbers, though they often change as students drop and add courses. If numbers are too low in any one class, it may have to be cancelled. But Woodward said there have been very few that have.

Of the some 140 classes taught at the school, 11 had to be cancelled or consolidated into other sections. But because there are only 13 classrooms in the entire building, the perception that numerous courses are being nixed could become the norm, she explained.

“Sometimes people see a cancelled class and they think we have an enrollment problem,” Woodward commented. “Really, that’s just good enrollment management.”

Most of the time, it comes down to costs, she said.

“We can’t afford as an institution to run a class that has two or three students in it,” she said. “For us, that just means that we need to schedule differently.”

The OC Poulsbo director said the best way to do that is by cutting classes with little or no enrollment, while bolstering the amount of courses that students express high interest in.

Woodward added the college often re-evaluates its priorities to best suit the students it serves. Currently, the largest category of students at OC Poulsbo are “college transfer” students — those looking to take two years of courses before moving onto a four-year university.

“That’s by far been the strongest enrollment pattern we’ve seen,” Woodward said.

Courses with large enrollments are often given at different times each quarter to meet the needs of different students. For example, high school students taking courses at OC through the Running Start Program prefer morning classes whereas working professionals can only take courses in the evenings.

It appears now that building a satellite campus in Poulsbo has filled its niche, Woodward added.

“The demand certainly is here. The community definitely wanted a presence here and they’re taking advantage of it,” Woodward said. “Before too long I think we’re going to have to look at how we can support our growt