2008 Woodie Awards
Open House: When High School Students Invade Campus
Christine Giannino
Issue date: 11/3/04 Section: News
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Students found themselves barricaded inside dorms and other buildings as they tried to maneuver their way through massive throngs of wide-eyed high school students and, of course, their stressed-out parents. Every three feet, a tour was going on, and there was no way to avoid it. Now, high school seems long ago. Coping with saying goodbye to close friends, SATs, long hours and long school years, proms, homecomings, graduation, and of course, the stresses of the college application process-all of these worries are long behind us. On October 24th, however, the essence of high school and all of its associated complications invaded the Manhattan College campus for Open House.
Open House lasted from noon until 3:00 p.m. (although to students on campus, it felt infinitely longer). The high school students and their parents attended a brief welcome ceremony, immediately followed by a ceremony entitled "The Vision of Manhattan," presented by Brother Thomas Scanlan. This ceremony addressed the expectations and values of the Manhattan College community-an address that all current Jaspers remember hearing at some point. From 12:30 to 1:00, the Manhattan Bagpipe Band on Walsh Plaza treated the prospective students and their parents to a performance. After that, they were free to roam around Draddy Gymnasium until 3:00 p.m., where nearly every single co-curricular and extra-curricular club or organization within the school was represented by a booth and an abundance of information. It was here where most of the high school students eventually found themselves, going from booth to booth and stocking up on informative pamphlets that one can only hope they will actually find useful.
Some of the more outgoing high school students were willing to share their thoughts on Manhattan College and their opinion of the Open House event.
"The people here are so friendly, even more so than other colleges that I've visited," Amanda Weeden, a senior currently attending Hoosic Valley High School in Schaghticoke, New York, proclaimed. "I also enjoyed the tours because they had great detail about the dorms, but my only complaint would be that the tour groups were far too large. Besides that, I was happy that I could ask the professors and staff about anything." When asked if she was seriously considering Manhattan, Amanda replied that she could definitely see herself here and that it is among her top choices.
Open House lasted from noon until 3:00 p.m. (although to students on campus, it felt infinitely longer). The high school students and their parents attended a brief welcome ceremony, immediately followed by a ceremony entitled "The Vision of Manhattan," presented by Brother Thomas Scanlan. This ceremony addressed the expectations and values of the Manhattan College community-an address that all current Jaspers remember hearing at some point. From 12:30 to 1:00, the Manhattan Bagpipe Band on Walsh Plaza treated the prospective students and their parents to a performance. After that, they were free to roam around Draddy Gymnasium until 3:00 p.m., where nearly every single co-curricular and extra-curricular club or organization within the school was represented by a booth and an abundance of information. It was here where most of the high school students eventually found themselves, going from booth to booth and stocking up on informative pamphlets that one can only hope they will actually find useful.
Some of the more outgoing high school students were willing to share their thoughts on Manhattan College and their opinion of the Open House event.
"The people here are so friendly, even more so than other colleges that I've visited," Amanda Weeden, a senior currently attending Hoosic Valley High School in Schaghticoke, New York, proclaimed. "I also enjoyed the tours because they had great detail about the dorms, but my only complaint would be that the tour groups were far too large. Besides that, I was happy that I could ask the professors and staff about anything." When asked if she was seriously considering Manhattan, Amanda replied that she could definitely see herself here and that it is among her top choices.