We Interrupt These Blogs to Bring You a Word From Our Kickball Sponsors

Admit It! You likely picture the Dean of Admission at William & Mary looking something like this:

Does an admission dean look like this?

as opposed to this:

Or does a dean look like this?

But if you had been at the Sunken Garden last night you would have seen Dean Broaddus in one of his favorite roles as Dean of Admission – captaining the Deans in the annual Senior Interviewers vs Deans kickball tournament.  It’s a hard-fought grudge match to be sure. This is a serious event.  2009’s Internship certainly thought so.  So did 2010’s Starship Internprise. This year’s Woof Pack would not let those who interned before them down.  And don’t misunderstand me, who wins and who loses is incredibly important (mainly because the Deans almost always win).  But more importantly, the match is a display of teamwork, collegiality and community; all hallmarks of the W&M experience.

The Intern “Woof” Pack

The kickball game is a special memory for all who participate.  The Facebook chatter in the days leading up to the game was intense.  Somehow, previous interns got wind of the impending match and began their sixth man campaign for team Interns (this year’s Interviewers coined themselves the Intern “Woof” Pack).  Most of the previous 60 Interviewers were posting pep talks to this year’s Interviewers as status updates.  My personal Facebook post about the game received 29 likes and 27 comments (I’m pretty sure that’s more than when I got married).  And it is such a special memory because the event is so indicative of the William & Mary community.  Having great fun with awesome people in this amazing community we’re all a part of.

At William & Mary, there isn’t a great divide between students and administrators.  We hope that’s evident by the fact that the Dean of Admission himself spends two hours on what is always the hottest day of the year playing kickball with his student interns.  And that is something unique to this institution.  Here, to have personal connections to the Dean of Admission or the Provost or the VP for Student Affairs or even the President is not at all uncommon.  We care about our students, we listen to what they have to say, and we treat them as colleagues.  We are equals in the W&M community and we all work together to make this community the dynamic place that it is.  If you don’t believe us, be in the Sunken Garden next July for the kickball match, or at the Green Leafe café afterwards for the post-game celebration, and you’ll see what I mean.  As Dean Broaddus said in his toast last night post game, “Here’s to some incredible defense.  A hard-fought victory, and a hell of a summer.”

For those of you who are keeping score, the Interviewers were victorious.  Next summer’s Interviewers will not be so fortunate.

Wendy Livingston ’03, M.Ed. ‘09
Senior Assistant Dean of Admission

PS: The Eeeek…It’s the Essay and the You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression blog series will continue next week at its regularly scheduled time.