By Abbie Steinly, Staff writer
The Susquehanna campus welcomed for the class of 2022 during the Susquehanna Success Day for prospective students.
802 guests, including students and their families were welcomed to campus on Saturday, April 7, to tour the academic departments, meet professors, listen in on student panels and meet other potential River Hawks.
On Friday evening the university hosted The Evening with Honors, where 62 admitted students who had been invited to join the honors program and their families spent the evening learning about the Susquehanna campus and community.
“They were able to take a tour of campus and hear from the director of the honors program in addition to current honors students,” Admission Counselor and recent Susquehanna graduate, Rachel Marstellar said. The evening concluded with a dinner where they sat with a member of the Susquehanna community and had their questions about the honors program answered, Marstellar continued to explain.
On Saturday, 280 students, who have been accepted to Susquehanna, spent the day at their potential soon-to-be college.
The day started with registration and refreshments accompanied by an athletic and student activities fair. A welcome session followed where guests heard from President Jonathan Green, Vice President of Enrollment Madeleine Rhyneer, and senior Samantha D’Amico.
Students then split up by academic department and listened to faculty and staff talk about the different majors offered at the school.
Of those opportunities, junior Jennie Lien helped out with two student panels: pre-law and environmental science.
“I really enjoyed speaking at Success Day, especially when I got to talk about my GO trip”, Lien said. “The accepted students were interested to hear about the GO Your Own Way option and my ability to incorporate my studies into my trip.”
Lunch was then provided by dining services and guests were given campus tours led by the university’s Student Ambassadors.
Afterward, there were two panels that the guests attended.
“The students attended a young alumni panel with five graduates from the classes of 2015 and 2016, while their parents heard from five parents of current Susquehanna students,” said Marstellar.
The day wrapped up with a reception for parents in the Admissions Office while students attended the Social Hour at Trax where they could play air hockey, pool and jenga and mingle with other prospective students.
Junior Nicholas Trotter, a student ambassador, helped with the set up of the event as well as overseeing the other student ambassadors and mingling with students.
Trotter said he was very happy for the weather and the outcome of the day, “I had a really great conversation with an incoming student and I’m happy that we’ll be able to catch up at Preview Days.”
“These special event days are super important for prospective students, especially those that are admitted, to really get a taste of the college experience before needing to commit,” said student ambassador, Nickala Hagarty.
This was the second open house event of the semester. The university hosted another Success Day in late February as an additional chance for potential River Hawks to come to campus, take tours and get to know some of the faculty and students.
These events take effort from all areas of campus. “There were about 35 student ambassadors working the event as well as the admissions counselors throughout the day,” Hagarty said. “Each academic department hosted a panel of students as well so it was a campus wide effort for an incredible day.”
Marstellar expressed that, overall, the event went well from the admissions side.
“The immensely positive feedback from the online guest surveys as well as the glowing verbal affirmations we received throughout the day led us to believe that Susquehanna Success Day was, in fact, a great success,” she said.
