Over the next few days our campus will be filled with visitors checking out Wesleyan as a place to spend their undergraduate years. WesFest combines parties and seminars, musical performances and athletic events, music and fashion shows to celebrate Wesleyan and (finally) the arrival of spring.
I met with a group of pre-frosh and their families this morning in Beckham Hall. They want to know if Wesleyan is the place where they will truly thrive; they want to know if Wesleyan will inspire them to expand their horizons while providing them with a community in which they will develop close friendships that go beyond the circles of relationships they began forming in high school. Students want to sense if faculty truly care about mentorship (they do), and if their fellow students are truly welcoming and supportive (they are). Parents want to understand that the liberal arts education being offered their students will help them know themselves better, navigate in the world more effectively, and remain a resource for life-long learning. I tell them that the liberal arts curriculum at Wesleyan does all these things because I’ve seen it happen time and time again. I’ve also experienced it in my own life. Ours is a challenging community, one that expects much from students, faculty and staff. But it is also a community that pulls together when faced with difficulties, and that celebrates (with gusto) achievement in athletics, scholarship, artistic endeavors and scientific research.
Wesleyan is a joyful place to learn. Now that it is April, I am reminded of this each day when I look from my office in South College over to Foss Hill. If you are here on campus, Welcome to WesFest!! If you are reading this far away from Middletown, just remember the happy music that drifts across Andrus Field as students ask their teachers if they can have class outside, and as we welcome spring to New England.
[tags]WesFest, spring, pre-frosh, Beckham Hall, Foss Hill, Wesleyan community, faculty, mentorship, liberal arts[/tags]
My husband and I, along with our high school senior, Travis, who was accepted Early Decision at Wesleyan, enjoyed the WES FEST. Thank you for all the planning and stimulating events presented. We also ate in the cafeteria and enjoyed a good meal.
Our son will be swimming for Wesleyan and enjoyed a swim team barbecue on the hill Friday afternoon and attended some classes. Although we split up so Travis could be independent, we all attended Roth’s talk on Wesleyan at different times/days, and we all came away with a good feeling about Wesleyan’s leadership and future.
Our son is a serious athlete and does not drink or do drugs so he was a bit uncomfortable with the Friday night parties. He realizes that the important thing to dwell on is the excellent education that he will receive. He will have to find ways to deal with the drugs and alcohol and still maintain friendships. He realizes that he will get out of Wesleyan what he puts in and that drugs and alcohol are on every campus. Unfortunately, drugs and alcohol are a part of college life, and as parents, we will continue to have discussions with him about how he is coping.
We continue to think that Wesleyan U. was the best choice (He was also strongly recruited by Tufts U.) for Travis’ pursuit of a career in science and an appreciation of many other subjects and interests.
Thank you again for a well planned event that we enjoyed.
Brenda Williams
I’m, quite frankly, head-over-heels in love [bordering on obsessed] with Wesleyan and I’d sell a couple vital organs to get to go to WesFest. But I live in Bosnia so it’s kind of financially unfeasible [though I’m doing CCY this summer!]. Yeah, this sounds so fun.
President Roth!
Glad to see you are finally acknowledging the merits of “Ze Who Must Not Be Named Day!” Happy music, indeed. I assume that WestCo’s yearly festival is what you are referring to, uh, right?