Shannon KeoughThe Cabrini College fall open house attracted over 100 prospective students. This wasn’t the typical open house. This year’s itinerary included an overnight visitation option for high school seniors interested in Cabrini student life.
In addition to the traditional yearly open house which includes tours of the campus, meetings with professors from various academic departments and a student panel discussion, Cabrini also included a viewing of “The Complete History of America – Abridged” and a late-night bonfire with a campus wide dance to follow.
“I think that everyone has been very nice and welcoming,” Victoria Tarver, prospective student, said. “This has definitely made the college decision process easier for me.”
Of all the activities that took place on Saturday, Nov. 14, the bonfire and dance were able to bring together both current and prospective students.
“It was really neat to see our students get excited and get behind this event,” Doug Swartz, vice president of enrollment management, said. “The entire campus really pulled this event off.”
The open house was not only hosted by the admissions office, but many other organizations around campus contributed to the event.
During the afternoon events, all of the academic departments participated in a panel discussion with parents and prospective students.
“During the question and answer portion of the major panel, all of the questions that I had were answered,” Tarver said. “Cabrini’s open house was much more organized than the one I attended at Villanova.”
The dance team and the cheerleaders, along with Orlin Jespersen, were essential in the planning of the bonfire, while the sociology club were the main sponsors of the dance that followed.
“The bonfire was a great way to boost school spirit,” Greg Zabel, education and history major, said. “It really showed what the real campus environment is like.”
Another yearly event of the open house is the student involvement fair. At the fair, various clubs and organizations presented information regarding their contributions to the campus and surrounding community.
After working at other institutions and being a part of executing different open houses Swartz has been able to take Cabrini’s open house to the next level by making it a personal and unique experience.
“I’m very pleased with the way this year’s open house went, especially with the new overnight visitation option,” Swartz said. “We would like to make this an annual tradition for the fall open house.”
