10 days until
Commencement!
Volume 81, Issue 29 VJeb Edition
www.brevard.edu/clarion
SERVING BREVARD COLLEGE SINCE 1935
April 20, 2016
BC readies for
incoming class
By Jessica Wiegandt
staff Writer
Brevard College hosted the first Student
Orientation And Registration day on Saturday,
April 16, for the incoming class in the fall. This
event had 131 students in attendance, according
to vice president of admissions and financial
aid Chad Holt.
The incoming class, according to Holt, is
simialr to past years. Saying these students
have no interest in any specific programs
that are different from past years. Interest in
majors is spread generally equally among the
students, however he said the staff has noticed
an increased interest in experiential education.
“In the four years I’ve been here, I haven’t
noticed dramatic changes in the quantitative
things. Interest in majors is typically pretty
consistent,” Holt said. “What I’ve seen is
that students are learning more and more
about experiential as the college has evolved
and advertised more. I think more and more
students are coming here because they like
experiential learning and they like that teach
ing philosophy.”
This year’s incoming class is expected to
be around 300 students, which is the typical
number. Holt said over the past three years the
number has fluctuated slightly but not drasti
cally enough to make note.
The difference that has become prevalent is
the demographics of students and where they
come from. Holt said more local students have
been attending the college over the past three
years, each year has seen an increase.
“Our student population from Transylvania,
Buncombe and Henderson County has gone
up,” Holt said. “We wrote a half tuition scholar
ship for local mountain county students a few
years ago and I think that’s had a dramatic im
pact. There’s a message out in the community
that we’re too expensive and this scholarship
has alleviated that.”
While there are more local students, the re
tention rate at BC is lower than desired. “We
have a lot of work to do on retention, but we’ve
added a coffee shop, we built a new residence
hall, we redecorated the caf... so what we’re
hearing from the students is we need to work
on those types of things and we are,” Holt said.
“We’re chipping away at all of that.”
As retention and renovation is being worked
on, BC is also in transition between DII and
Dill. Athletic director Juan Mascaro is unsure
about whether the transition will affect how
many students apply to the college but knows it
affects timing for recruitment and applications.
Next year, Mascaro said BC will still be a DII
school but will not be giving out scholarships
for new students. This means incoming ath
letes will be playing for a transitioning school
without scholarship incentive. According to
Mascaro, this affects when students commit
to BC to play.
“[Recruitment] is later in the year rather than
earlier. We lose the ability to sign students
with scholarships so they now wait until later
in the year,” Mascaro said. “They wait for DI
to close, then DII and then they start looking
at the Dill schools. So we’re waiting for it to
trickle down and it’ll affect the student popula
tion and demographics here but it’s too early
to tell exactly how it will make a difference.”
Those in the admissions office have been
hard at work this semester with recruiting
students for BC, according to Holt. The office
is constantly talking about how the school as
a whole can be improved to make the student
experience here a positive one.
“We are looking for students who want a
small school, in a small town, in the moun
tains.” Holt said, “And we want students who
want to learn in an experiential context. This
class is looking great and we’re looking for
ward to seeing them in August.”
Finals
Week
Things you
need to know
With finals week fast approaching, it’s great
to know that BC has got your back in helping
you get through these next few days.
Jones library will offer extended hours. From
now until April 27 the library will be open until
midnight and on April 28 the library will be
open until 11 p.m.
The AEC is also preparing student by increas
ing tutoring during finals week. On April 25-27
the AEC will be open for students until 10 p.m.
“We also will offer free coffee and snacks as
we have in the past semester,” said Director of
the offices for Career exploration and career
development Nacole Potts.
If students want to take a study break CAB
plans to host the traditional Pancake Break
starting on Monday, April 25 at 10 p.m. there
will also be Pet Therapy happening April 20-22
from 11-2 p.m.
Final exam schedule
can be found on
my.brevard home page
Commencement weekend
schedule found under News
& Events subhead on the
Brevard College home page