Stonehill and the Windy City

Hello everyone!

Sorry it's been a while! Since we last spoke I've logged over 2,00o miles by land and air in 5 different states. One of these states was Illinois where I spent 4 days in the Chicago area for some High School Visits and College Fairs. A few thoughts about my trip:

• Windy City is not so windy...Maybe it's just me but I didn't notice the wind all that much
• Lack of Boston accent disappointing to students...I swear at almost every school I visited students would want to know where my Boston accent was. (I don't really have one) You could tell they were devastated. I did my best impression of one and that seemed to work well!
• Wrigley is a great place to watch a game...When I found out I was coming out to Chicago the first thing I did (before buying my plane ticket and finding a hotel) was to see if the Cubs were home during the time I would be there. And they were! Myself and my friends from P.C. and B.U. came to the game with me. We had a great time but it was odd to be sitting in a ballpark in September watching two teams play a game with zero playoff implications. Leaving that night I vowed not to ever take the Red Sox and their consistent run at the playoffs for granted
• Train system is amazing. I have to hand it to Chicago they have the public transit system down to a science
• SAT? What's that?...This is ACT country. The SAT was hardly brought up by the students.
• You never know who you might meet at a College Fair...At a fair at Loyola Academy I met a 3-time NBA Champion from the Chicago Bulls. No, not Jordan, but former back-up center Bill Wennington. He was easy to spot at the fair since he is 7 feet tall and his son was 6' 10".

Overall it was a great trip. The school counselors I met with were very receptive, and many of them knew of us already. They said if students are thinking of the Boston area in the search, they add us to their students' lists.

Next post I will recap the NACAC annual conference which brought together over 3,000 Admission and School counselor professionals from around the world. Needless to say it was an interesting week.

Stonehill Invades Pittsburgh

Greetings from "the road!" I'm currently in Cleveland after spending several days in Connecticut, Pittsburgh and Rochester. Since I had high school visits and fairs on Friday and Monday I had the opportunity to stay the weekend in Pittsburgh and see all the sights! It was the week before the G20 summit so the city was abuzz but luckily I was out of there early enough to avoid all the traffic, flight delay, protesters and general craziness that surrounds an international event of that magnitude.

I have a few friends from college in the Pittsburgh area so it was great to catch up with them and let them show me around the city a bit. On Saturday we caught a football game which was a new experience for me. Coming from a small high school, attending a college with DIII athletics and working at Stonehill (Division II) I've never really experienced the wonder that is BIG football. We got tickets for Pitt v. Navy and had a blast...especially since Pitt won! Chris is the world's biggest Steeler fan so he was just excited to be in the new Heinz Stadium for the first time. That's him with the Superbowl Trophy. I was more excited for tailgating and food! I ordered a hotdog and this is what I got. As you can see by my face it was a daunting task.

Despite the rain, Chris and I headed to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium. They were feeding the Komodo Dragon when we were there which was really cool to see. We're both huge fans of penguins (who isn't?) so the aquarium was the best part for us. I've attached a live action video of a penguin diving and playing peek-a-boo with Chris.





It was a great weekend to relax a bit before travel really gets underway. This week I'm in Cleveland, OH visiting high schools from Monday-Friday. In October I travel from Hartford, CT to Springfield, OH and finish up with Philadelphia, PA.

We'll update soon with some frequently asked questions we receive during travel season and what types of questions you should be asking reps at college fairs and visits.

On the Road Again!

Well it's that time of year again- fall travel! The Admissions Team is hitting the road and coming to a high school or college fair near you. We'll be traveling all over the country for the next 6-8 weeks and blogging live about our adventures!

I'm currently in Pittsburgh, heading to Rochester, NY on Tuesday and finishing up September with Cleveland, OH next week. I'll have mostly local travel for October before I finish up in Philadelphia. Look for a post about my exciting weekend in Pittsburgh soon! One word: football.

Eric is currently in Chicago, IL and I'm sure he'll have a post since it's the first time Stonehill has traveled to Chicago in at least a decade!

Below is the college fair schedule for the entire office. Check in with your college counseling office to see if we're visiting your high school as well!

http://www.stonehill.edu/x11047.xml

We can't wait to meet you!

Busy school year? Same here!

What the best way to know if a school is right for you? You have to visit!

We're offering some new ways to visit Stonehill this fall. We're now offering TWO sessions on select Saturdays to come visit campus during the fall. Group Information Sessions followed by campus tours will start at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on September 19th, October 10th and October 17th. Please call the main Admissions line at 508-565-1373 to make a reservation. Space is limited so please plan in advance.

The Senior Class Visit Program is also in full swing! Seniors are assigned a current student host that takes them to class, lunch and a personalized tour. This is a great program for Seniors that are thinking about applying to Stonehill and have already done a Group Information Session or a Tour. We require one week's notice to sign up so we can notify professors and find suitable student hosts. Please call the main Admissions line at 508-565-1373 to reserve a spot. Space is limited.

Friday, September 18th (Rosh Hashanah)
Monday, September 21st
Friday, September 25th
Monday, September 28th (Yom Kippur)
Tuesday, September 29th
Friday, October 2nd
Tuesday, October 6th
Thursday, October 8th
Friday, October 9th
Wednesday, October 14th (PSAT Test Date)
Friday, October 16th
Tuesday, October 20th
Friday, October 23rd
Monday, October 26th
Wednesday, October 28th
Friday, October 30th
Thursday, November 5th
Friday, November 6th

New Dunkin Donuts!

While the new science center has been open this summer to students doing undergraduate research in the S.U.R.E. program, there has been one important component missing from the building.....Dunkin Donuts!

Yes, the time has finally come! The entire campus came out in full force last week for the Grand Opening which included free coffee, donuts and tons of samples. Included are some photos of the *new* Dunkin Donuts which is located right outside the atrium with beautiful floor to ceiling windows. This space can be set with tables (see photo) or chairs for presentations, speakers and hopefully Open Houses in the spring for the Admissions Office!

It's also another exciting time: back to school! The academic year officially started yesterday with the first day of classes. Congratulations once again to the Class of 2013 and best wishes on their first week of college!