Steven Viera || Managing Editor
Last Friday, April 17, the College hosted A Closer Look, its annual accepted students’ day. More than 500 prospective students from the Class of 2019 visited F&M to learn more about academics, campus life, and more.
For guests — over 500 students and an additional 1,000 parents and siblings — the day began with an address in the Alumni Sports & Fitness Center (ASFC) by Dan Porterfield, president of the College, and Julie Kerich, interim vice president and dean of admission and financial aid.
“We’ve read your essays and met you in interviews and learned from your teachers about your talents and personalities and achievements, and now it is a great pleasure to get to know you in person as you finalize this important decision,” Porterfield said, according to an article published on F&M’s news website. “I can promise you that this place will give you every opportunity to flourish. This place will have faith in you and support you and challenge you and know you.”
Following Porterfield’s address, students broke into two groups to attend question-and-answer sessions led by current students, while their parents went to panel discussions of their own. At lunchtime, students and their families ate at the Restaurants at Ben Franklin.
According to the article on F&M’s news website, throughout the day, the prospective students could choose from multiple activities: talks focused on the college houses or student activities; a student research fair; bus tours of Lancaster; and campus tours. The final item on the agenda was a closing reception with
Porterfield.
“I thought A Closer Look was very successful,” said Reeves Connolly ’17, an F&M tour guide who showed prospective students around campus during A Closer Look. “All of the students I met seemed very excited about F&M. They had a lot of really good questions and generally seemed like they would be a good addition to our student body.”
The admitted Class of 2019 was accepted from over 7,000 applicants—the most in the history of the College.
“The turnout this year was amazing,” Kerich said according to the article on F&M’s news website. “It was so nice to see the smiling faces of so many students the deans and I got to know throughout the application process. This is a tremendous group of young men and women, and we look forward to watching many of them do great things here at F&M.”
As of press time, Kerich was unavailable for comment; however, students echoed her comments about the day’s success.
“I think A Closer Look was run very well; the students I talked to had a positive experience and the campus as a whole felt alive and well,” said Michael DiAntonio III ’15, another F&M tour guide who led spring admit panels on A Closer Look. “Maybe some of it had to do with the weather, but either way, the prospective students got a glimpse of so many F&M positives and came away from the day, I think, with a great impression of our community.”
Junior Steven Viera is the Managing Editor. His email is sviera@fandm.edu.