Double Your Pleasure

This summer, to add a twist to the Admission Office’s daily information sessions, we invited our student interns to join the deans in talking with prospective students and their parents. As a new staff member, I was extremely happy with this change because it made my first few times giving sessions less stressful. Our interns, who will be seniors here at the College in the fall, are bundles of knowledge. They each know William & Mary like the back of their hand, as they are summer tour guides as well. They can also give expert first-hand knowledge about the aspects of academic and social life because they experience both of them on a day-to-day basis. Because our interns can spew out facts, data, and anecdotes at the drop of a dime, some people may think that we script their answers. Likewise, as a former basketball coach here at W&M, I would often ask my players to join me when I met with prospective student-athletes. I received the same reaction, and parents would occasionally ask me how I got my players to speak so well and interact so professionally with visitors. Again, they thought we told the students how to answer the questions and what to say.

Instead of being offended by these questions, I always take them as compliments. To me, the fact that our students are able to engage in different settings with different people bodes well for our institution. Our strong liberal arts education and plethora of social activities ensure that students are well-rounded and can speak on a number of topics. As a result, there isn’t a need to prepare a script or teach them what to say. Oftentimes, we administrators and faculty find ourselves learning just as much from the students!

– Kia Butts