Prospective students and their families filled the third floor of the Flood Mansion during today’s Admissions Information Night, kicking off the high school admissions season.  

“The purpose of the Info Night is to give a chance for families to have a deeper discussion about the student experience at Convent,” Associate Director of Admissions Allyson Maebert said.

As opposed to previous years when a student panel was used to answer all audience questions, student ambassadors and faculty were separated into two groups, addressing either student life or the admissions process as prospective students and their parents rotated between each group.

“We’re more of a closer community, so I wanted to bring more of a conversational session than a Q-and-A,” Maebert said. “This is a process where families are trying to decide what’s right for their children, so it’s important to give them the most of that real face time experience.”

Student ambassadors, composed of juniors and seniors, also found it easier to address families in smaller groups rather than in one large audience, according to ambassador and junior Georgia Ellis.

“I had a chance to talk to a few different families about Convent in a general sense before splitting off into a smaller panel about the admissions process specifically,” Ellis said. “Being in a smaller panel with its own specific focus made it much easier for me to be able to answer the questions I received in the best way that I could.”

Selected teachers were included as a third group, allowing families another chance to speak to them in addition to admissions events Curriculum Night and Evening School, according to Maebert.  

“What I hope students get is that, especially for a person like me who’s on my first year here, the idea that ‘wow, there’s a first year teacher, and he’s already so fired up about this school community and glad to be here,” physics teacher Riaz Abdulla, who was on the panel, said. “‘If there’s a first year teacher with that kind of enthusiasm for the school, I can only imagine what four years being here would be like for me.’”

Maebert and Enrollment Management Director Jen Butler have also integrated a strawberry DNA lab activity to school visits, showing eighth graders how to be collaborative and engaged in a single sex environment, according to Maebert.

“I think it’s the whole package,” Maebert said about the Information Night. “They get to meet students and faculty affecting their children’s lives, and that’s huge.”