Its a common question asked every May at colleges around the country. The evolution of a freshmen class into a graduating class. As I sit on the graduation stage each year (waiting to fulfill the important task of placing a hood over the head of our commencement speaker...yes, I'm joking!), I play a little game to see how much I remember about the students who pass by after receiving their diploma. For some, its easy. They may have worked as a student ambassador in the admissions office, so I've kept close tabs on them. But for many, I see the bookends only - four years earlier the 'soon to be' high school graduate turned college freshmen, and now, the 'soon to be' college graduate heading out into a less sheltered world than the one they currently live in. They enter uncertain, and leave more certain - of their career path, their world, and themselves. They took a stormy graduation Saturday and turned it into a personal celebration. There's a metaphor in there somewhere. So how was this group different from those who preceded it? Will the senior class of 2013 outshine the 2009's? Who's to say. The job of re-engineering the entering class is my job. Every year I have to replace approximately 1/3rd of the student body - never an easy task, but the challenge is "the juice". This class of incoming freshmen will have a special place in my memory - it is the largest class in college history, in a year when that wasn't supposed to happen. It will be the most diverse - testament to our test optional policy, broader geographic reach, and strategic use of merit scholarships. 2009 will be remembered as the class that helped raise the bar just that much further. So 2013, are you game? I'll be watching. Don't let me down!
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