Hi everyone,
First, thank you all for your kind comments and questions. I have enjoyed talking to each of you, and hope you keep your questions coming! I thought that this time I’d cover a few of the miscellaneous questions that have come to light.
President’s move-in day – It’s official! President Stone and his lovely wife have moved into Sweet Briar House! I know that he is looking forward to meeting all of you when you bring your daughters to school. Stay tuned to hear details of how that will happen :-).
Resident advisors – Sweet Briar is fully staffed with resident advisors (RAs), so you can rest assured that your daughter’s dorm floor will have an RA.
If your daughter is an RA – RAs return to campus on Aug. 16 and are in training from Aug. 17 until new students arrive on Aug. 23. RAs — or anyone wanting to know more about residence life in general — should feel free to contact Kerri Bond, director of resident life, by phone at (434) 381-6346 or by email at kbond@sbc.edu.
P.O. Boxes – Kerri confirmed that returning students will keep the same P.O. box number they had last year.
Move-in dates – Some students will move in as early as Aug. 15. Student leaders, athletes and riders should contact their coaches or advisors to inquire about early move-in dates 🙂 First-year students’ move-in day is Aug. 23. With the exception of RAs, riders and athletes, returning students may move in no earlier than Aug. 24. For those of you coming from a distance and needing a hotel room, if the Elston Inn is full, the closest place to stay is in Amherst, Madison Heights or Lynchburg. If you haven’t made a reservation yet, definitely do so now.
Meeting you – Speaking of moving in, as I’ve been talking to parents via various media, I thought, “I’d really love to meet these SBC parents and their daughters!” I’m planning to be on campus on Aug. 23 and 24 so I can meet you if you wish and help you get answers to any questions you may have. I’m still working on the details for where and how we can connect, but I’ll let you know in an upcoming blog post.
Fees – Your daughter’s financial letter describes tuition, room and board, and financial assistance. For those who are wondering, the additional fees are the same as last year. In the fall, everyone pays a facility fee ($100), student life fee ($275) and post office box rental ($48). If you are a new student, you pay a one-time room damage deposit ($75). And if you bring a car to school, you pay a campus parking fee ($100). Very reasonable fees, and good to know for planning purposes.
Finally, I mentioned in my first post how impressed I am with the new Board of Directors. I want to highlight two more members who, for me, instill confidence and for whom failure is not in their vocabulary:
Gen. Charles C. Krulak, the vice chair of the Board, had a distinguished military career as a Marine (thank you for your service, Gen. Krulak), and became the 13th president of Birmingham-Southern College on March 21, 2011. Under Krulak’s leadership, the college had clean audits, balanced the budget every year, saw two successive upgrades from Moody’s, significantly increased new student enrollment every year, restructured its loans and began paying down debt, and had a successful 10-year accreditation visit from SACS-COC in fall 2014 that led to affirmation of full accreditation in June 2015. All of this was done while he refused to take a salary or benefits. Gen. Krulak became president emeritus of Birmingham-Southern on June 1, 2015. This is a man who, along with the rest of the board and President Stone, can bring financial stability back to Sweet Briar.
Marcia Thom-Kaley had a successful 25-year career as a classical singer, and in recent years has been an avid fundraiser for community organizations. She was awarded the Volunteer of the Year Award by the Central Virginia United Way in 2014, as well as the Virginia Association of Fundraising Professionals Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser Award in 2014. Marcia has been a faculty member at Sweet Briar since 2005. An assistant professor of music, she teaches applied voice and conducts three choral organizations. In 2009 and in 2015, she received the Connie Burwell White Excellence in Teaching Award by the Sweet Briar College Student Government Association. I first met her last year on move-in day for our (then freshman) daughter, when Professor Thom-Kaley was one of the session speakers for parents and students. I walked out of that session thinking, “Wow, that’s an impressive woman with a positive, can-do attitude!” and thankful that she was yet another wonderful faculty member shaping my daughter.
We are so blessed to have these and all of the wonderful people at Sweet Briar to be shaping our daughters. Words alone cannot express how grateful my family is. Holla, holla to you all, and I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks!
What are YOUR concerns? Send them to me at SBCParentToParent@gmail.com, and I’ll address them in upcoming posts, or sooner if needed. Until then, talk to you soon!