The seventh annual Bowdoin Experience Weekend, which begins today and lasts until Sunday, has Associate Dean of Admissions Elmer Moore pretty excited.
"This is going to be a blast!" Moore said. "Imagine the Bowdoin Invitational, except now everyone's in."
The goal of the weekend is to encourage students who would contribute to diversity at Bowdoin to matriculate. According to Moore, 65 percent of the 90 students who attended last year's weekend ended up enrolling at Bowdoin.
"This weekend is one of our committee's favorite weekends at Bowdoin," said Moore, referring to the group that plans the event. The committee includes Moore, Assistant Dean of Admissions Rhoan Garnett, Admissions Officer Emily Parker, and Assistant Dean of Admissions Andy Ramirez.
"We're wicked excited about this weekend," said Parker. "There's going to be a slew of awesome activities and the chance to show these great kids that Bowdoin is the place for them."
Moore said current Bowdoin students who attended the Experience Weekend in previous years have been instrumental in volunteering for this year's schedule of events.
"We received an amazing response from current Bowdoin students who had participated in the Experience last year and wanted to help out and volunteer this year," he said. "That just goes to show what an impact this program has had on students' decision to come to Bowdoin."
"The Bowdoin Experience was why I came to Bowdoin," said Isa Abney '11. "I was really impressed with the activities and events and the resources that Bowdoin made available to all of us. Plus, I was amazed at the friendliness within the group of prospective students I was with."
All Experience Weekend attendees stay with current students who have volunteered to play host to them for the weekend. Most students who host are first years who participated in the weekend as prospective students last year.
"For the most part, the students are free to do their own thing throughout the weekend," said Moore. "We have tons of events planned, but the kids are in no way bound to their hosts or to the activities planned. They have a lot of individual freedom to do what they're interested in on campus."
According to Moore, most of the activities available to the prospective students are not events planned by the College.
"All we planned really were the icebreakers held upon their arrival on Thursday night, the hip-hop show on Friday night, the museum tours and five short Outing Club trips on Saturday, and the Bowdoin Experience dinner on Saturday evening," said Moore. "Other than that, campus groups organize events knowing that all of these prospective students will be on campus."
Other events that will be available for prospective students throughout the weekend include the Girl Talk performance on Friday (see story, page 8), as well as the Asian Students Association (ASA) fashion show, Gospel Fest, and the Latin American Students Organization (LASO) party on Saturday night.
The committee is especially excited about the weather forecasted for this weekend, which will be a huge improvement from the nor'easter conditions during last year's Experience Weekend.
"Last year's weather was whack," said Ramirez, who stayed with some students in Bangor when flights changed. "Most of the airports along the East Coast were closed, so students were rerouted to Bangor and Boston."
Many students who attended the Experience Weekend last year were drawn to the College despite difficult weather and travel conditions.
"The weather gave me a more realistic perception of how my experience at Bowdoin might really be," said Justin Foster '11, who attended the Experience Weekend last year. "Despite the horrific weather, the Experience Weekend showed me that Bowdoin was a place I could enjoy even when everything didn't necessarily run perfectly. No matter what, Bowdoin was able to preserve a spirit of optimism and welcome, and that's what convinced me to come here."