Rider welcomes prospective students at Admitted Students Day

By Giavanna Troilo

The sun shined bright over a lively Rider University on March 7 for the campus’ second Admitted Students Day of the season.

With students and faculty all decked in cranberry and white, the event saw a sign-up list of over 500 prospective students and The Office of Admissions had all hands on deck for greeting, tabling and touring.

The spring 2020 semester has come with the rolling out of several new Admitted Students Day initiatives to make potential future Broncs feel right at home.

In addition to the smiling faces of both faculty and current students tabling for their respective departments and organizations, visitors to the Student Recreation Center gym enjoyed various Rider-spirited activities. One table had a bowl of numbered pins. Each prospective student received a pin, with 7-10 pins for each number. The adjacent sign read, “Did you meet your match?” in an effort to spark conversation between prospective students, as well as current students, who had a pin with the same number.

One exclusive section, with a bold sign in cranberry text reading “Insta-Cran,” encouraged prospective students to enter the “student-only” section of the gym, where they could post questions on a board for current students to answer, or snap some Instagram photos in front of the class of 2024 balloon wall.

Johanna Blume, assistant director of student success, stood proudly with a table of cards and pride pins ready to discuss Rider’s Inclusive Excellence Plan with visiting families. Blume explained that this semester is the first round of Admitted Students Days in which the inclusion plan is being advertised to prospective students.

“We wanted to have a table to be able to tell potential students and parents that these are the initiatives that Rider’s trying to bring,” said Blume. “We want inclusion and diversity here.”

Blume showed the cards detailing the initiatives Rider put into place in October, including the Vision for Inclusive Excellence and the Plan Goals.

“We have our six guiding principles that we’re trying to hold the campus to. We have such a big opportunity to be influential, and we’re letting students know ‘hey, if diversity is important to you, then this is where you should be.’”

Allie Koury, coordinator of Student Involvement and co-coordinator for The Rider Allies SafeZone program, mentioned the necessity of prioritizing inclusion and inclusion training in higher education.

“I think that the Inclusive Excellence Plan is so important, and it’s really going to bring us to an entire other level in the higher education field,” said Koury. “We have this plan and we’re executing–it’s a really exciting time.”

Overall, Koury, who spent the morning running around and representing Student Affairs, stated that the event was a sure success, and that several visiting students chose to submit their deposits for next year while attending Admitted Students Day.

“[The students] were able to be like, ‘this is where I want to go to school,’ and to me, that’s a successful day,” said Koury. “I had two students come up to me and say that they don’t know what they want to do outside of the classroom, but that they really want to use college to figure out what their interests are.”

Thanks to the enthusiasm of students representing Rider’s variety of clubs and organizations, prospective students are able to do just that. Koury believes that on days like Admitted Students Day, people can always count on Rider students to show up and represent their school.

“I had a parent ask me, ‘is this all a show?’ and I was able to say ‘no, this is how our students are,’” said Koury. “Every person here [at Rider] is like this 100% of the time. The students are wonderful, and it really allows us to shine.”