New Students Connect With PEA Community Remotely
By Kaylee Chen, Kiesse Nanor and Ava Yu
On March 4, Principal William Rawson announced the cancellation of all spring Experience Exeter programs. These programs, which traditionally take place in April, are an opportunity for recently admitted students to visit the Exeter campus and sit in on live classes. The administration’s decision to cancel these events were driven by a desire to protect the health and safety of Exeter students, faculty and staff as the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread throughout the United States. As a result, the Academy has had to adjust its methods for attracting admitted students to enroll and helping current and new students to connect.
Although new students understood that these restrictions were a necessary precaution, many were still disappointed by the news. “Throughout the whole application process, revisit days were the part I was looking forward to most; the opportunity to spend a day on campus and experience it like a student might was so exciting, and I couldn’t wait,” incoming prep Luke Davis said. “I was also planning on using revisit days as a major part of my decision in what school to attend.”
Incoming prep Amber Zou agreed. “When I heard that revisit days were canceled, I was devastated, but I also already had a feeling I wanted to choose Exeter,” Zou said. “I was looking forward to Revisit Days, but I appreciate the school’s early action in preparing for the coronavirus pandemic.”
Despite these circumstances, both current and new students have found ways to connect. “We first reached out to all the incoming seniors... in an email, welcoming them to Exeter and the class of 2021,” Upper Representative Hannah Lee said. “Last month, we also held a Zoom event for new students to get to know each other and ask us some questions.”
Students have also begun using Instagram to communicate with future classmates. “I started an Exeter ‘24 group chat on Instagram that has now expanded to four platforms with over 80 incoming preps in the group chats,” Davis said.
These group chats also include current students such as prep Cassie Perez. “I’ve spoken to definitely over 35 [new students] with varying levels of contact,” Perez said. Perez has answered questions on a number of topics such as boarding life, packing, sports teams, class structure, clubs, dining halls and weekends at Exeter.
Exeter is continuing to connect with incoming students through email. Newly enrolled students are usually assigned an interim adviser to answer questions and help with course registration. Exeter has also held virtual panels with new students, which Davis agreed “definitely helped me learn everything I wanted to know about Exeter and become more familiar with the school.”
Although the circumstances have changed, new students are still enthusiastic about the coming year, and the Academy continues to extend a warm welcome to the newest members of our Exeter community. “We are thinking hard about what it means and how best to welcome everyone back to campus, including new students, after this virtual time ends,” Dean of Students Brooks Moriarty said.