Adventures in Admission

Pomp and Circumstance

It is that time of year again.  A time filled with both anticipation and nostalgia – with suspenseful choices and tearful goodbyes.  It is a time that only hints at what the future may hold after what may feel like the end of an era. It is a time where we all get together and speculate about what may be for all those characters we feel like we know, and for some, it is just a relief that it is finally done with an acknowledgement that it is high time to move on.  Each year it is a little different, with some goodbyes harder to take than others, but the excitement is there just the same.   

Real life and art collide each year at this time, for me, when the students (and colleagues) I have had the joy of knowing and working with, move on to their next chapter in life much like the TV characters I have had the joy of watching for years face that season or series finale.  The tearful goodbyes, and hope and suspense for the future ring true in both worlds. 

It is fortunate that this time comes in the spring where it is hard to spend too much time mourning the end, as it is really a time for new beginnings.  So, in the spring-like hope that there will be happy reunions with those that I have grown to adore and new favorites to be created (both real and fictional) I say to you – thanks for the memories! 

For those of you that are the ones moving on, keep in mind these words from the character Creed, from The Office finale - “No matter how you get there or where you end up, human beings have this miraculous gift to make that place home.  Let’s do this!”

Jennifer Lipke - Senior Enrollment Specialist

Men’s lacrosse off to the quarter finals

The Pioneers had a big weekend with the men’s lacrosse team defeating Albany 19-14 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. This win brings them to 13-4 on the season and sends them off to Indianapolis this weekend to take on North Carolina. Fans have been flocking to the lacrosse games this year with several sold out games, but this one set the new record with 2,621 fans coming out to root for the Pioneers!

Women’s lacrosse also had an outstanding season and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament before losing to Florida on Sunday. We’re all excited to see them out on the field again next year!

Emily Forbes - Director of Communication, Enrollment Division

From farmer to fellowship winner - alumna Rachel Armstrong

Rachel Armstrong (JD ’12) didn’t plan on becoming a lawyer. The founder of Farm Commons, a nonprofit legal-services firm, and the recent recipient of an $80,000 fellowship from a global entrepreneurship foundation had something more pastoral in mind.

“As a kid, when people asked me what I wanted to be, I would always say I wanted to be a farmer,” Armstrong says. “Or else marry a farmer,” she adds with a laugh.

Read about how Rachel turned a childhood passion into a fulfilling career... albeit not quite the career she might have anticipated!

http://blogs.du.edu/today/magazine/echoing-green-fellowship-helps-law-alumna-rachel-armstrong-help-farmers  

Come Celebrate Diversity in May!

For the last 12 years, the University of Denver community has come together to discuss Inclusive Excellence during the annual Diversity Summit.

Workshops will include everything from studies on gender interaction to cultural education!

During the Opening Reception, Pedro Noguera will be speaking on diversity, race relations and the impacts of violence. Noguera is an urban sociologist and the L Agnew Professor of Education at New York University. His research focus is on the social and economic conditions of the urban environment. This is a great opportunity to hear a lecture from one of the leaders in Urban Sociology.

This year, the Diversity Summit will include something new. Saturday May 11^th will be the Day of Action, where DU will host 400 students from Monroe Elementary to help show these students what college is all about!

Register here to participate in the University of Denver Diversity Summit - the event is open to the public!

Also This Month: Asian Pacific Heritage Month

We hope you’ll join us for Asian Pacific Heritage Month at DU!  On May 8^th, the Asian Alumni Association will be hosting an alumni panel of young professionals discussing their career paths. There will be opportunities to network with other DU alumni, and Career Services will also be available to answer resume-related questions and give interview tips!

Help kick off May Days with EXPRESSIONS to be hosted May 15^th in Davis Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. This year, the Asian Student Alliance will host a hip-hop artist, a dance group, and several DU students with an array of skills to entertain the DU community while challenging stereotypes. ASA Internal President, Craig Hirokawa says “We try to break the notion that Asians should become doctors, lawyers, engineers etc. by featuring the artistic talent in our community.” 

Admission is free with a DU ID card, but if you’re an admitted or prospective student just print out this page and bring it to the event!

Visit the ASA Facebook page for more information.

Join us for the 3^rd Annual NSA PowWow

Another event coming this May is the DU PowWow to be held May 19^th at 1:00 p.m. on Driscoll Green. This is a time when our community can gather in order to honor Native American culture and people by sharing history, art and experiences. 

Music and performances representing native nations from throughout the US and Canada will be accompanied by brief histories related to each performance. Join DU in appreciating the rich cultural history of a variety of Native nations. This event is free for the entire Denver community. We hope to see you there!

Learn more about the PowWow and receive updates via the event’s Facebook page!

Happy May 1st!

Today is the day! Have you decided to enroll at DU??

(this is Spikeball, a recent phenomenon here at the University. If you've never played it before and you're a future Pioneer, believe me, games are in your future!)

We can't wait to officially welcome the Class of 2017 to campus in September. Go Pios!!

Festival of Nations - Success!

Just in case you missed it:

This year’s Festival of Nations was a truly exciting and educational experience. With booths representing over two-dozen University affiliated groups and other organizations from the surrounding Denver community, the Festival was able to provide attendees with many diverse and inspiring perspectives. 

Highlights from this year’s festival included the Muslim Student Association’s Jeopardy booth, which tested attendees’ knowledge of Islamic practice and challenged stereotypes. Questions dealt with the diversity of sects within Islam, prophets, texts and other important facts. Also, the Asian Student Alliance created a booth which helped educate people on the group’s different projects and allowed the organization to promote some of the events they’ll be hosting for Asian Heritage Month in May (view the group’s Facebook page for schedules and upcoming events).

Many of the booths, such as the Indonesian Student Association booth (shown below), served delicious international food, giving festival attendees a taste of other cultures’ cooking.

The performances this year demonstrated the beauty and fun that different cultures have to offer. Cultural Dance productions, a non-profit Mexican Folklorico Cultural Dance group, brought some incredible talent this year, performing a number of traditional dances and dazzling the audience with fantastic costumes and tremendous skill. Other performances included DU groups, such as the Idiosingcracies (shown below) and University of Denver dance clubs, that showcased the diversity of student talent here on campus.

All of the groups and performers brought an excess of knowledge and talent, making this year’s Festival a fun and educational experience. We hope you’ll join us next year for the 31^st annual Festival of Nations!

 

Time for a Road Trip!

The months of March and April are a special time for high school seniors as they travel to the many colleges that offered them admission, exploring various aspects of campuses to ultimately determine the best colleges to attend this fall. While it is exciting for these students to learn about the opportunities that each college can provide, it also worries me that students are making such an important decision in a short window of time.

One of the more noticeable changes in the behaviors of families following the recent economic recession is that more students are postponing campus visits until they are offered admission. Furthermore, students are applying to more schools to have additional options to compare, especially offers of scholarships and grants. While I appreciate the financial realities of travel costs as well as the desire to maximize scholarship offers, is this new behavior allowing students to find the best match? Is applying to 15 schools, some of which are only vaguely familiar to the students, a good idea? Is visiting five or more of these schools in a two-week stretch a good idea?  I worry about the long-term consequences of a shopping spree that more closely resembles Thanksgiving’s “Black Friday” than a proper college search.

My advice to rising juniors and seniors is to begin researching schools now to explore the “match” before deciding to submit an application. It may be flattering to be invited to apply to a prestigious school located thousands of miles from your home, but is it wise to do so without exploring the school further? Browsing websites or perhaps visiting a few of these schools in the spring and summer can help students become familiar with different colleges and also help determine the factors that will be most important in a final college selection. Choosing from a carefully selected set of colleges seems to offer a better approach than skimming the surface at 15 schools in the final weeks of your senior year.

Summer offers a great time to travel, and I encourage families to reconsider some of the practices we have observed post-recession. Plan a trip to Denver this summer to explore our campus, and take in some great scenery along the way. Time for a road trip!!

Todd Rinehart - Associate Vice Chancellor of Enrollment and Director of Admission

Lamont for the win!

Our own Lamont School of Music was named one of the best values in Denver for classical music! They also happened to call out our Newman Center as the "best-sounding fine-arts venue in the city," but we already knew that...

Check out the article and come visit Lamont!

April at DU

Just a few images from this past weekend's visit events. We hosted over 1,000 people on campus!!

Global Education Week and The Festival of Nations

Please join the University of Denver community in celebrating Global Education Week and the 30^th annual Festival of Nations during the week of April 8-13!

Global Education Week is an annual event at the University, which provides an opportunity for the campus community and the public to learn about international cultures and broaden their worldview. An array of student organizations host panels and guest speakers and organize a variety of other cultural events. This year, GEW will include a China 101 interactive session which will introduce attendees to basic Chinese expressions and pronunciations, an International Faculty Panel which will explore education from an international perspective, lectures on empowerment and diplomacy and much more. 

The Festival of Nations, traditionally the finale of Global Education Week, is the largest student-led event held on campus. Each year, the festival hosts over two-dozen booths, which give attendees opportunities to learn about different cultures through various traditions, performances, music, art and games. The festival includes a series of performances by individuals and student organizations ending with The Global Fashion Show.  

Above, Cultural cuisine is served at the Festival

Highlights:

DU Latin Dance Club

The Latin Dance Club is a student organization that celebrates the beauty and culture of Latin Dance. The group holds free lessons every Wednesday in one of the University’s student residence halls taught by dance instructor, Fafa Bee. This year at the Festival, the club will be performing a Bachata, a form of dance originating from the Dominican Republic, and a Cuban Mambo routine, choreographed by their instructor.

Above, members of the DU Latin Dance Club

The Asian Student Alliance (ASA)

In previous years, members of the ASA have contributed to the Festival of Nations by organizing the Festival Fashion Show and providing a unique international perspective. Internal President of ASA Craig Hirokawa says, “Because many of our members have family or active roots in the countries of origin, many of our members have been active in the planning of the festival.”

This year at the Festival of Nations, the Asian Student Alliance will be preparing the public and the DU community for Asian Pacific Heritage Month, coming up in May. The ASA is teaming up with FAWKS (an Asian-Interest sorority here on campus) and the Vietnamese Student Association to celebrate a month full of cultural events lasting from April 22^nd to May 15^th. Stop by the ASA booth at the Festival of Nations to learn more about their upcoming events. 

Attendance to Global Education Week and the Festival of Nations is free and open to the public, so we hope that you will join us in celebrating an important part of DU tradition.

For more information on the Festival of Nations and Global Education Week, including a schedule of events and directions, please visit the links below.

We hope to see you there!

http://www.du.edu/intl/isss/fon/index.html

http://www.du.edu/intl/isss/gew/