During this college fair, I always see familiar faces.  High school counselors from schools I regularly visit, and those who send students to Wabash stop by to get an update on their former students.  What stood out this year was the large number of people approaching the table with an introduction similar to this one "I've heard great things about your school.  The doctor who repaired my ACL is a grad."  I had three such conversations in about a 20 minute span and started keeping track.  By the end of the fair, I had met 8 counselors who had learned of Wabash through a family or professional connection and that now (I hope) are fans of Wabash College.  

Two such people really stood out in my mind.  A counselor from Warwick HS in Pennsylvania stopped by to say "I love Wabash.  My brother and my cousin both went there."  I asked for their names and she replied "John Russell and Dan Schubert".  I worked with both of them and after introducing myself she simply said "you're the guy who called our house all the time."  Affirmation.

The second was a counselor from Tulsa who just said "Mike Dill would be upset if i didn't stop and say Hi."  Mike's the guy who gets stuff done for us in Tulsa and he's really going above and beyond to help this year.  A regular college fair attendee, Mike volunteered to visit a few schools this year as well.  He worked a few years in Admissions after he graduated from the College, so I guess it's in his blood.  Here's a scanned image from the Tulsa World that Mike sent last week. 

It's almost October, but there's plenty of time to refer a high school senior to Wabash.  With our Fall Class Visit Days and Top Ten Scholarship Visit Day a few weeks away, students you refer will still have enough time to take advantage of these programs and the scholarships tied to them.  Learn more about both events at the Future Students homepage. 

Photo Album

For Wabash alumni living in these areas, please spread the word to any students you think would be a good fit for Wabash. If the tour isn't coming to a city near you, there's still a way you can help.  If you know of any young men (nephews, cousins, grandchildren, friends of colleagues or classmates) that do live near these cities, encourage them to attend.  Any high school student will benefit from hearing the CTCL message and meeting with representatives from the member schools.  It's much more than your typical college fair. 

I'll represent the College at all 6 stops with Clint Gasaway joining me in California. I welcome any alumni volunteers interested in joining me at the table in the other cities.  Just email me at timmonsc@wabash.edu if you're interested.

One final note, CTCL.org is expanding its marketing efforts and harnessing the power of social media.  Facebook and Twitter (@CTCLColleges) pages have been created and I will be "tweeting" on behalf of CTCL during this tour.  I'll tweet on my own Twitter page (@ChipTimmons) as well, so if you want to see more of what goes on at these events, "follow me" next week. 

 

1) If you're heading out to the Boston area, I would recommend flying into Manchester, NH.  It's a smaller airport, but it has all of the amenities one needs. Plus, you won't have to contend with traffic that you face driving into Logan in Boston. 

2) Just because you're staying in a city that's home to a large research institution, don't assume the area hotels offer wifi. In one city, we stayed in a hotel that bears the name of said research institution and they only offered dial-up.  Unbelievable!

3) This last tip goes out to the airline pilots out there.  I would never tell you how to deal with any of the technical aspects of your job.  In fact, I'm always impressed with the eloquence of the captain's in-flight announcements given all he has to deal with while we're in the air.  However, please try avoid making announcements like the one made by the pilot for my Boston to Rochester.  It went a little something like this "Folks, I'd like to apologize for the condition of the aircraft.  This our backup plane and we haven't used it in a while.  Since it's such an old plane, we don't have storage space to provide you with beverage service on today's flight.  Again, we apologize and thank you for choosing to fly with us." 

The temperature in cabin rose about 5 degrees during his announcement.  Instead, why not simply say, "Sorry folks.  We won't offer any beverage service today. Please enjoy the flight." 

Colleges That Change Lives will resume our tours in August.  We will travel to Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver and Albuquerque from August 1-6 and follow that with stops in Houston, Austin, Dallas, Birmingham, Raleigh, Atlanta, and Nashville from August 15-20.  If any alumni living near these cities would like to help me at any of these fairs, email me at timmonsc@wabash.edu.  I have a volunteer signed up for Los Angeles, but the rest are up for grabs.  For times and locations for these fairs, visit www.ctcl.org.

I posted a few pictures from earlier in the week, but added a few more to that album.  View photos






 

Saturday's college fair in Falls Church didn't have the turnout we have come to expect on our tours, but the students and families were an eager bunch who asked great questsion.  The turnout on Sunday was far better and thanks to Chris Alexander '02 for helping me at the Wabash table. I would not have been able to handle the traffic on my own.  

A few highlights I can share: I spoke with one student who's a close friend of David Pancost '69.  The student's father remarked "I cannot imagine Wabash has a bigger fan than David".  Another pleasant surprise was a young man who arrived late and stopped by our table to say "I'm here just to talk to you, Mr. Timmons." 

After the fair, all of those traveling on the tour attended a memorial service for Loren Pope. Loren passed away in September, but it seemed fitting that we all gather to honor his legacy while taking part in the college fair tour that he started some 12 years ago.  Several colleagues shared stories about Loren, his love of good food and wine, and his tireless work to champion the cause of liberal arts colleges, especially those featured in his book. 

The memorial was held at the Pope-Leighy House outside Alexandria.  The architect of the house was none other than Frank Lloyd Wright who built this home for Loren back in 1941.  Loren and his family lived in this home until the mid-1960's.  The home is now a historic landmark. 

As I catch my breath, Steve Klein is on his way to New York for the next fair on the tour.  I report back to duty on Tuesday in Boxborough, MA where I'll be joined by Jonathan Schwarz '06.  

Photos from game and Pope-Leighy House

Next time, I'll update from the road as I travel with the Colleges That Change Lives tour.  If you prefer to get your updates in 140 characters or less, follow me on Twitter @ChipTimmons.


 

The day closed with a presentation by our Career Services team. Their presentation featured what I like to call an all-star team of students who've worked with career services over the past few years.  Sean Clerget '09, Blaine Cooper-Surma '09, Drew Oehler '09, Mark Schultz '10, and Tian Tian '11 each shared how they took advantages of the opportunities available through the Schroeder Career Center to gain admission to law school, medical school, internships, and careers after Wabash. 

It was a great day for Wabash and our guests, but it simply would not be possible without the enthusiastic support of so many members for the Wabash community.

On January 19, we welcome 64 prospective students to campus for our second Top Ten Scholarship Visit Day.  Wabash alumni played a large role in the day's events.  Scott Smalstig '88 delivered the keynote address.  Students and their parents attended alumni panels featuring the following Wabash alumni:  Marcus Doshi '97, Reese Hamilton '97, Theo Johnson '98, Steve Mackin '98, Kris Monson '98, Maury Raycroft '03, Josh Robinson '97, Josh Tatum '03, and Aaron Warnke '98. 

The Sugar Creek Association of Wabash Men and the Indianapolis Association of Wabash Men had volunteers at lunch to dine with the parents of prospective students.  Those alumni were Rick Cavanaugh '76, Scott Douglas '84, Jack Foos '75, Steve Golliher '67, Steve Hoffman '85, Brad Johnson '71, Paul Moehling '70, Jon Pactor '71, Matt Roark '07 and Brad Weaver '91.
 

Thanks to all of the alumni for their help with another successful Top Ten program.

Record Breaking Year ??

It's starting to look that way.  In 2006-07, 1450 students applied for admission to the College, the highest total in our history.  On Wednesday, we received our 1,400th application for the Class of 2013.  In the record year of 06-07, application number 1,400 didn't arrive until February 26th.  

While the record number of applications is promising, there's a long way to go until May 1.  As is the case every year, Honor Scholarship Weekend will be critical to our success.  Students can now register online at www.wabash.edu/admissions/visit/honor.  If you know a student who has applied to Wabash, encourage the attend Honor Scholarship Weekend - March 20-21.

On the evening of the 20th, we will host the Honor Scholarship Banquet at 6 PM in Chadwick Court.  We would like to have alumni in attendance, so if you would like to join us, email me at timmonsc@wabash.edu. 

As my colleague Mike Reidy says, "As Honors goes, so goes the year." 

Speaking of Mike

Mike's recovery is going well.  He said he's lost over 20 lbs and he's well enough to call the office every day to check on the numbers for his region, the office, Honor Scholarship Weekend, and to see how the rest of us are getting along in the weightroom without him.