We are very excited about our 2nd Summer Soccer Visit Day! We have more than 40 people attending the event, between students and families.

The group will have the ability to meet professors, students, admission & finance counselors, the soccer coaching staff, the career center director, and top everything up with a buffet dinner prepared by our own Bon Appetit catering service.

It will be a great opportunity for these young men to get a taste of Wabash and its longstanding traditions...and talk soccer!

And if you haven't registered, please do so ASAP!

See you in a month!

Download a PDF copy of the brochure pictured above.

Posted by Roberto Giannini at 09:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Our soccer recruiting class of 2011 is quite completed, at this time, with the final addition of a senior from the International High School in Indianapolis, Liam Killick, who helms from South London, England.

I met Liam's mother yesterday, a very nice, soft spoken lady who traveled to Crawfordsville from London last Sunday to see what kind of "deal" this Wabash College was that her friends and Liam's American family host kept talking about with so much emphasis and affection.

I was very much impressed by something that she said, something that made me think very deeply about the reasons why parents should entrust us with four years of their sons' lives.

Simply put, Mrs. Killick said that she "...had to take a leap of faith," trusting her gut feeling and what everyone associated with Wabash - alumni, admission counselors, coaching staff, etc. - kept saying about the way Liam's life would change as a result of his Wabash education, the College's academic, cultural, and social mission, its philosophy, the special connection with the school, other fellow students, and the sense of brotherhood across general and individual interests.

I always trust my gut, and I was glad that Mrs. Killick did the same, but taking a leap of faith goes much further than where your inside voices may tell you to go.  It means putting, as a parent, the well being and the future of the most precious person in the world, one's son, into the hands of an institution, its faculty and staff, its administrators, and its students, with the hope that what one has heard, felt, and seen as a visitor will really happen and impact a person the way a parent can only hope they will.

That's the position of a parent who has not experienced Wabash from within, but only trusted the people who hold Wabash so dear to their hearts. The parents who take a leap of faith for their freshman sons.

A leap of faith only for one year because twelve months later, when their sons enter the third semester, the same parents will be the ones joining the multitude of Wabash believers and speaking about our school from within, from experience, and from what they have witnessed in a very intimate way, the growth of their sons as smarter students, caring human beings, and mostly as men.

We are here to help you take the leap. We are sure that the following year, you will be the ones helping us as we motivate new families to take their leap of faith.

So, our message to Mrs. Killick and to other parents out there, is this: "Thank you for trusting us with your sons. We will nurture them for four years and return them to you as men, real men, Wabash Men!"

Your leap of faith is the best investment in your sons' future you can ever make. Trust us, we have seen it, over and over again ... since 1832!

WE ARE ...WABASH!

Posted by Roberto Giannini at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It was my first attendance at the Commencement ceremony and I couldn’t have picked a more satisfying afternoon.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous with an intense light blue sky, emerald green grass and trees, and a refreshing breeze from the North.

On this beautiful Sunday afternoon, our four seniors, Ben Esbaum, Greg Ridenour, Tahir Ahmed, and Zuber Ahmed received their Bachelor of Arts degree from Wabash.They were all smiling and taking pictures with their friends and families.  I managed to take some pictures as well and I am honored to share them with you.

I saw many people I know from faculty and staff, and finally met the parents of our four graduates right after the ceremony ended. I had the pleasure of meeting Ben's parents and even his grand-parents. I met Greg's mom and dad together with his sister, brother-in-law and his one year old niece.

Then, I saw again Mimi and Nisar Ahmed, T & Z's parents from India, whom I had met a few days earlier when they visited my office. This is Mr. & Mrs. Ahmed's first trip to the States ever and what a great way of celebrating their stay!

I coached Ben, Greg, T & Z only for one year but I feel I have known them for longer than that, and that we built something special in the few months we were together.  I believe that we connected in a particular way, and my hope is that they will continue to be part of the soccer program as alumni in the years to come.

Before leaving to return home, I had the pleasure to exchange a few words with Pres. Patrick White as he was trying to grab something to eat (actually, he was on his first bite of a white macadamia chocolate chip cookie!) before joining his wife Chris, who had preceded him in Bloomington, at the graduation of their son from medical school.

Pat and I both acknowledged that we share the same feelings about the class of 2007. It will always be a special one for us because it was our first one. And you know what they say, the first one…you never forget it.

 Congratulations again, Ben, Greg, T & Z, you will always have a place in our hearts.

Posted by Jeff Oleck at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We are at the end of many things this month.

It seems like winter has decided to leave us for good and we are having mild temperatures to accompanying us during days and nights.

International soccer is about to end, with domestic leagues rounding up the last 2-3 games left on the season, and the Champions League final between AC Milan and Liverpool on May 23. Inter Milan has already won the Italian Serie A, Celtic the Scottish FA, Lion the French Ligue 1 for the sixth time in six years, and PSV Hendoven the Dutch Eredivisie. Manchester United is one game away from winning the English Premier League for the 16th time in club†history. Barcelona, Seville, and Real Madrid are still in contention for the Spanish Liga and Shalke 04 is fighting with Werder Bremen and Stuttgart for the German Bundesliga.

I can't believe that in one month it will already be a year since the beginning of the Germany 2006 World Cup that eventually crowned Italy Champion of the World for the fourth time. Those indescribable feelings that lingered for long time have been tempered by the passing of weeks and months and I guess it represents some sort of end as well.

The academic year is over today. Yesterday at Sparks for dinner, one could hear a louder than usual sound of people talking. Students have completed their exams and even though some of us must fish really deep in our memory to connect with the feelings, we all know what it means to have finished with school!  Appetite comes back, happy grins appear on the face without too much effort, and the desire to speak to someone, all the time, is almost unstoppable. And if you know that you did well, the energy is barely controllable.

Four of our seniors will walk the grass mall as Wabash students for the last time, in their still young lives, on Commencement Day. I am sure their heads are filled with so many thoughts right now that it would take some time, perhaps months, before they can sort it through and realize what Wabash has done to prepare them for the "real world."

Ben Esbaum, an Economic major, will start a new chapter of his life working in Chicago with a banking investment firm. Tahir and Zuber Ahmed, both Economic majors, have received several offers and the word on the street is that they may end up working for Amazon.com. Greg Ridenour, an English major, will enter law school, possibly at Valparaiso University, my American alma mater.  All four students have contributed to the soccer programs in many different ways, on and off the pitch. They will be missed and hard to replace.

The recruiting efforts for the 2011 class will be also over this month. Coach Oleck and myself went after '07 high school seniors with the desire to bring in a strong first recruiting class for this coaching staff.  We traveled extensively throughout the country, to attend soccer tournaments, seen thousands of players, and sent out hundred of letters.  A process that we started in March '06 and, after fourteen months, it will be over (just for the '07s because we have already been recruiting '08s in the last two months!) in a few weeks.

With all endings there are also new beginnings and I am excited to report that our '11 class recruiting efforts have paid off.  Several new student/athletes will join the soccer program this fall. Here is the list so far and we are still working on another couple that we can't name until they paid their deposit:

Mike Scheitlin, Champaign Central High School & Little Illini Soccer Club - Champaign, Illinois - Goal Keeper

Mark Babcock - Chesterton High School & NWI United FC - Chesterton, Indiana - Defender

Fabricio Monroy - Universidad Privada de Bolivia, La Paz, Bolivia - Defender

Diego Aliaga - Universidad de La Paz, La Paz, Bolivia - Midfielder

Andre' Hall - Cathedral High School & Westside Utd.- Indianapolis, Indiana - Defender/Midfielder

Matt Kaster - Brebeuf High School & Dynamo FC - Indianapolis, Indiana - Midfielder

Josh Manker - Harbor Springs High School, Harbor Springs, Michigan - Midfielder

I am sure that these young men have what it takes to contribute to the growth of our soccer program in the years to come. Welcome on board lads!

Posted by Roberto Giannini at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)