Since there were going to be delays anyway until some equipment started to arrive, we gave the student body an informational sheet that showed which clubs would be available at the start of next semester. This also included information that other clubs would be coming in future semesters, though we were vague about exactly which ones would be coming. They were also informed that they are restricted to one club at a time, and can only change clubs at the start of a semester. New students each year will also be given a one month window to test clubs out before signing onto a roster.

Unlike last year, this summer's break won't be filled with as much staff development work as previously. There is still enough work that I can't justify letting anyone go on any expeditions to the mainland for an extended period of time. We're planning one staff development day a week during the summer break to plan classes and discuss things we learned, but that is quite a step back from where we were last year. There is still quite a bit we're learning, but I think that a lot of the decisions can be made separately now by individual instructors.

This also brings up that we'll start having summer work available for students that is centered around their fields of study, or at least it'll be related to school. So I've been prepping a few summer internship positions to help with certain tasks that could benefit from an extra pair of hands, as have some of the faculty in other departments. For my tasks, there are a few club spaces that we'll be setting up.

Many of the clubs were set up exactly in the form the students requested. These were clubs like fishing, hiking, and some sports. Others were consolidated or transformed to make a club that would be more relevant as students gain more experience. For example, some individuals suggested very specialized ideas like wagon repair, wheel construction, and wagon weight balancing. These are all components of a larger club idea, but one that I'd like to modernize because in another twenty years, I suspect animal drawn wagons will be obsolete. So, I've consolidated it into a 'self-powered wagon club'. The closest thing we have to an automobile right now are the tanks we've developed, and while I was mulling the idea of a truck for hauling supplies, I haven't had the time to design it. With this, I can give a small amount of advisement to the club, and hopefully they'll develop and improve the idea over time.

They need equipment and space for such a club, however, which is why I've got two summer work positions set aside to start preparing the space for next semester. I doubt they'll have a good working model by the end of next semester, but at the very least they'll be able to start figuring things out.

Another club that I've signed off on the creation of in a modified form is tool casting and optimization, which is modified from blacksmithing. We relied in the past on, and in fact still to a lesser degree still rely on, blacksmithing on Kembora. However, as industrialization continues to expand, the need for blacksmiths will shrink, and the need for people who can design tool casts and the facilities for casting will increase. While I also have some summer work being done on this club, it won't be done by next semester, since there are more complicated facilities that have to be built to support it.

It felt a little wrong changing those clubs though. On earth, often times those sorts of clubs are for preserving old trades and skills in a university that are no longer needed by society. In the future, I may very well re-institute those original ideas as clubs, but right now, those skills are still ubiquitous within society.

Summer break went well overall. We had summer work available for a total of 60 students, and had all of it filled. While the four people I kept on helped with setting up club spaces that I wanted to get set up quickly, some of the other faculty had more interesting jobs available. The ancient dwarven history professor had a pretty good idea, and had three students that stayed with him this summer as he taught them the sorts of things he's looking for as artifacts from the past. He'd asked for permission from me that he'd have those same three students work for him during the winter break to go to search for artifacts on the mainland, and I approved it.

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Another 21 students from the first class dropped out, alongside 77 students from the second class. I definitely consider it an improvement, especially because this is the second to last chance many students have to drop out without us trying to pursue repercussions. That leaves us with 223 students in the first class and 323 in the second, for a total of 546. The number of new applicants decreased again, however, which has me a bit concerned. I'm hoping that it'll start to trend upward as things start to become more streamlined at the academy. Right now I expect that most of the information circulating on the mainland is how much of a mess things are.

Part of that issue is that students who dropped out are likely to have a more negative view of the academy, and now they're on the mainland all the time. Meanwhile, students who have a good outlook remained here and aren't communicating with the mainland. To combat this, I've talked with some of the dwarven studies instructors to devise a plan to have students do a write-up mid-semester on what they like about being at the academy. They'll then ask permission from the authors to have the best pieces duplicated and distributed to the mainland as positive propaganda for the academy.

I'm personally looking forward to this semester a lot more than previous ones, and I think a lot of the faculty feels the same way. I'm finally teaching a course of engineering that goes beyond just simple machines, and there are some clubs that I'm advising that I look forward to working with.

Things were a little rough at the start of the semester. Quite a few clubs had some issues dealing with the combined demon and dwarf members sharing a space. That took a lot of coaching and careful handling from faculty for things to de-escalate. Some clubs were better than others as well when it came to integrating quickly, with smaller clubs being much faster. As more of the smaller clubs became friendly with each other, the classes and, eventually, the larger clubs followed suit. Not that everything is great and everyone gets along now, but it's no longer a majority of individuals showing open hostility.

The self-propelled wagon club took a bit of instruction from myself to get things moving in a functional direction. There are only 7 members in the club coming from various backgrounds, with five dwarves and two demons. The dwarves in the club have experience with wagon design and repair, and the demons have some experience with the manufacturing of tanks, so between them they should have all the skills they need to build a prototype.

To keep things simple for them, I've provided a basic, non-steam, mana engine that should be large enough to propel the wagon but not so large as to be potentially dangerous. I've given them permission to request certain parts or supplies as they see fit. I'm also being cautious as to not give them too much information when they ask questions, since I want them to learn to problem solve through the design process. Six of the seven in the club are on the engineering track, and I've noticed a marked improvement in their performance in my class compared to other students, so I think that I'm probably on the right track. The class itself is covering some of the principles of mana engines and ways to apply them, which obviously also probably plays a role in their ongoing improvement in the class.

The overall mood of much of the student body is improved, which I think can be attributed to clubs providing the much requested entertainment that has been missing. I'm also hoping that as we add more clubs and the average number of club members shrinks, we'll see even more improvements in mood, performance, and friendliness. We'll be getting 400 more students again at the start of the year, so its possible that the number of club members will rise if we don't get enough facilities completed before next semester. We've also identified three more instructor positions we'd like to fill, two of which are remedial, and one is for communications efficacy within dwarven studies. We're half a semester from winter break, so I need to start planning how my break will look as part of the hiring process.

If things go well in the remainder of this semester, I plan on appointing heads for each department who will take over some of my duties of selecting students and new faculty so that I can focus more of my efforts elsewhere.

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