On Saturday, February 15th, high school students and their families flooded the Saint Anselm campus, taking tours and attending workshops to figure out if this could be their home for the next four years. The Early Admitted Open House had a high attendance rate, at ninety percent of students and their families visiting our campus. 173 students came, and their family members and friends pushed that number up to over 460 people. Students of all prospective majors attended, but all of them were early admission students. The Open House did have a noticeably higher population of nursing students, but since all nursing majors had to apply early for the Nursing Program, this is nothing out of the ordinary.
Families and students began to arrive on campus early in the morning, and the Open House kicked off with the Welcome Address given by Julie Lanman, the Admissions Director, President Favazza, Hannah Gawlick, and Ashleigh Sargent, the Admission Operations Director. After the Welcome Address, The Open House was split into five sessions, each session being forty-five minutes, with the exception of session four being an hour long to accommodate lunch. During each session, multiple workshops, panels, and tours were held so the prospective students could pick the ones most relevant to their interests. The first two sessions all included campus tours and workshops. The workshops in session one were Biological Sciences and Chemistry and Forensic Science, Business and Economics, Education, and Nursing. Session two workshops were Arts and Humanities, Computer Science, Mathematics, and Physics, Health Sciences and Community and Public Health, Politics, and Social Sciences. Session three had normal campus tours as well as specialized tours for Fine Arts, Humanities, Nursing Lab, NHIOP, and Science Lab tours. Session three also included two programs, one for first-gen students called First-Gen Resources and Support, and the other called “Exploring Majors: How Do You Find Your Path?” for students with undecided majors. Session four was the Student Services Fair and lunch, catered by AVI. Session five had a student panel where Saint A’s students answered questions about Anselmian college life. It also had an Honors Program Information Session for prospective Honors students to find out more about the benefits of the Saint A’s Honors program.
The Early Admitted Open House only had one noticeable change from previous open houses: the addition of the First-Gen Resources and Support workshop and the addition of the Honors Program Information Session. These two workshops allowed incoming students to gather much more information than used to be available at open houses. Ashliegh Sargent, the Director of Admission Operations, commented on both workshops saying “The First-Gen workshop offered students and families the opportunity to learn more about the TRIO Scholars Program and the many ways Saint Anselm supports first-gen students to be successful. In the Honors Program workshop, admitted Honors students learned more about program requirements and outcomes from Professor Theresa Dabruzzi, Honors Program Director, and current Honors students.” The workshops at open houses exhibit what life at college, specifically Saint Anselm looks like. They are very important for convincing high school students to choose St. A’s to be their home, so naturally they should be as informative and welcoming as possible. Ashleigh expressed this sentiment in her comment, “We were excited to add two new workshops this year focused on First-Gen Resources and the Honors Program. Both of these new workshops allowed us to further demonstrate Saint Anselm’s commitment to helping all students succeed and make the most of their four years on campus.”
Saturday, though a bit cold, was a lovely day for an open house. There were no negative impacts caused by the weather, so tours were able to run smoothly. Ashleigh Sargent made her gratitude known, stating “Our office is very grateful for the support of the Saint Anselm community to run an event of this size. We appreciate the time and effort of Conference & Events, Campus Safety & Security, Physical Plant, AVI Food Service staff, Print Shop, faculty, staff, and students who helped to make our first Early Admitted Open House successful. The investment of the entire community makes such a difference and shows visiting families just how special the Hilltop is.” The Saint A’s students, and the whole campus community, have always known how to follow the Benedictine tradition of hospitality and make guests on campus feel accepted. On Saturday, March 1st, another Early Admitted Open House will take place, so St. A’s should prepare to be just as welcoming as they were this past weekend.