Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / March 19, 1998, edition 1 / Page 7
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News New freshmen class improving standards March 19,1998 Giselle Pole Features Editor Next year’s freshmen class seem to have an even higher aca demic profile than last year's, said Nan Perkins, dean of admissions and financial planning. The Office of Admissions re ceived 3,000 applicants for the 1998-99 school year, a 4 percent increase from last year and a 20 percent increase from two years ago. Perkins gave several reasons for the increase in applicants. “The word is spreading about Elon,” she said. “There is excite ment about our new programs and new facilities.” The new class’s SAT average is up by about 13 points. ‘The class itself will have a score above 1090,” Perkins said. “This is an even brighter class than last year’s.” There has been an increase in applicants from areas such as Ohio, New England and South Carolina. The deadline for applications was Feb 15; those continuing to apply are being told that spaces are filled. “Three thousand applicants are as many as we can accept in order to enroll 950 new students,” Perkins said. The decision to accept950 stu dents comes from the senior .ad ministrators of the College. Sev eral factors are taken into consider ation, such as the number of gradu ates, the retention of the remaining students and the budget demands. The administration then sets a num ber on which the Office of Admis sion adheres to. Many students who were ac cepted to Elon and paid their en rollment deposit were at Elon for Admissions Weekend, which was March 13-15. “The weekend was extremely successful,” said Susan Klopman, assistant director of admissions. “There were many spaces that filled up quickly, but everyone handled it well,” she said. In addition to the Admissions Weekend, 225 students were on campus on Friday competing for spaces in the Fellows Programs. They attended seminars and ses sions led by faculty and learned more about the Honors, Science, Isabella Cannon Leaders and Jefferson-Pilot Programs. Students who were here for Admissions Weekend were given campus tours, received advice on how to survive in college (for par ents and students), pre-selected classes for next year and attended special sessions on the Elon Expe riences Programs. Heather Baldwin, an admis sions counselor, said there were a record number of525 students here for the weekend, and close to 1400 students and families on campus in total. Safe Rides still going strong Leann Alfred Pendulum Reporter Safe Rides, the weekend car pooling service for students, is seeking more volunteers to match the accelerating demand of stu dents needing rides. Brian McDonald, the new coordinator of Safe Rides, said that an increasing number of stu dents are using Safe Rides. During the fall semester. Safe Rides picked up as many as 240 students in one night. Safe Rides runs on Thursday nights from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays, 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. The average number of rides on a Thursday night is 50 to 100 people. The pace picks up on Friday and Saturday when Safe Rides answers about 225 calls. An average of one person per minute gets picked up in the four hours Safe Rides runs. McDonald said the program wasn’t running as smooth as it could be last semester when he was a volunteer driver. “I saw in my mind things that could be changed to run more effi ciently,” McDonald said,” that is why I took this leadership posi tion.” Some students tend to get up set if there is a long wait to be picked up. “It gets rough when it’s a Sat urday night with only one car,”he said. On several occasions during the fall. Safe Rides was unable to run because of the lack of volun teers. So far. Safe Rides has run ev ery night this semester McDonald said. Leigh Wheeler, assistant coor- dinaitor, said, “We need to run ev ery weekend because the students depend on us.” Safe Rides purchased a fourth radio this spring semester to allow a third car to be used in the future if there is enough participation to do so, McDonald said. It takes at least six people to run the Safe Rides operation. Two people are dispatchers, one of whom is the captain who oversees Safe Rides for a specific night. Two drivers and two passen gers are needed as well. Both a female and a male must be in each the cars for safety rea sons. Safe iRides needs more volun teers to have a third car running Thursday through Saturday. More students are taking ad vantage of Safe Rides rather than choosing to drive themselves McDonald said. Safe Rides could pick up ad ditional students within a shorter amount of time with a third car and more participation. Safe Rides is recruiting dis patchers who receive the incoming phone calls and also drivers. Students interested in sign ing up can call the EV! office at x2102 or send an email to saferide@numen.elon. Students are reminded that volunteering for Safe Rides fulfills the Experiential Learning Require ment if they complete 40 service hours. “I would like to see a more diverse group of students volun teering instead of seeing the same old faces,” Wheeler said. Safe Rides currently has a core volunteer list of 120 names of people who have volunteered at least one night. “So many people use Safe Rides that I would like to see those students volunteer every once in awhile,” Wheeler said. Safe Rides has pushed their public relations this semester, try ing to recruit more volunteers McDonald said. They sent out let ters to about 3600 students two weeks ago. Safe Rides has also set up a billboard in the Moseley cen ter and advertised on the Informa tion Channel. “We can only make this suc cessful with the volunteers’ help,” McDonald said. I Visit the Pendulum Online at http://www.eion.edU/users/o/pendulum Let us help you get ready for spring break Desij^n roruni sal 0 ni Specializing in: Highlighting • Color • Body Waxing Body Massage Therapy • Body Wraps Facials and Skin Care • Manicures • Pedicures West End Shopping Center 3411 S. Church Street 585-1919 ^ f f fjLti;?..?,? T. rr* f t TTfrt f r r rr rrrrrcrrr;',' ''.-ri-v You^re Welcome at The Listening P ... a place to be heard ^ ... a place to talk about S anything of interest to you T Stop by on Thursdays between 11:00 am & 3.i)0 pm in the Moseley Center Fireplace Lounge Retired friends from the community, recruited by the Chaplain's Office, talk with students about successes, disappointments, changing relationships with family or friends, decisions to be made... Whatever Is On Your Mind! Listeners bring the wisdom of their years and a host of personal and professional experiences to every conversation. And they are fun people to be with! Come and see.'' ' "
Elon University Student Newspaper
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March 19, 1998, edition 1
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