Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving, and getting to see your daughter? I know I am! 🙂 Hard to believe school started 13 weeks ago. Has time flown for you, too? I chuckle as I hear about the various school “pets” which need to be fostered during Thanksgiving break — a python, a skink (yes, that’s skink, not skunk; I’d never heard of one either before now!) and other assorted critters. We have three pets of our own coming home — a horse, a fish and a guinea pig that lives with a friend in the Village. Plus we already have three cats and a dog. Feels like old times, having a whole menagerie again, and I confess that I love it 🙂
How was Families’ Day? I had other commitments so I did not attend, but I hope that you could attend and enjoyed the experience. What did you really like about it? Any suggestions for improvement for next time? Feel free to share your thoughts with me, and I’ll be sure they are heard by the right people.
Tuesday, Nov. 17, I attended the Washington, D.C., regional town hall in Centreville, Va. As usual, President Stone’s speech was informative, positive, uplifting and humorous, and he was great about answering questions from the group. If you are still wondering whether Sweet Briar will flourish, you can definitely put that question to bed permanently. President Stone is a leader who knows how to mobilize people to focus on the key things for the school to become financially solvent — a balanced budget, recruiting students and raising money — as well as recognizing smart things to spend money on to bring the school back to what is should be. For example, did you notice that new flagpole with a spotlight proudly flying the American flag in the main roundabout? Another example: Because most kids these days live and die by social media, the College has hired a marketing firm to assist with its social media marketing to prospective students.
The board also recently approved a budget that uses only 5 percent of the College’s endowment for the current year, the lowest percentage in more than 10 years, according to the Nov. 2 board report. Using no more than 5 percent is important because it is considered an industry benchmark for sustaining a healthy endowment. From what I’ve heard, this is the first time in over 25 years that Sweet Briar has only drawn 5 percent of its endowment for the year. Hopefully it goes without saying why a balanced budget is important. 🙂
Recruiting students is always important, but understandably Sweet Briar is playing catch-up here. In addition to “typical” recruiting efforts, Sweet Briar (I’m pretty sure Marcia Thom-Kaley has been the lead on this) has mobilized a large group of alumnae and some parents (and more are always welcome!) to help spread the word about Sweet Briar. They are attending college fairs, talking to local high schools and community colleges, having an alumna make follow-up calls to every prospective student who visits the campus, and even trying to match alumnae with prospective students according to particular areas of interest. The College is also hosting fun and interesting events that bring the girls to campus, from riding open houses to the Explore Engineering sessions, and hopefully others. If you have an idea for fun and interesting events that will attract high school students to the campus, please feel free to email it to me. I’ll make sure the appropriate people consider your suggestion and give you feedback on their decision.
Every college needs effective fundraising, and we are blessed to have Mary Pope Maybank Hutson ’83 as the new vice president for alumnae relations and development effective Jan. 1. Mary Pope led the Saving Sweet Briar campaign’s major donor task force beginning in March when the former administration announced its intention to close Sweet Briar, through September, when the group delivered its final payment to the College and fulfilled the terms of the settlement agreement to keep the College open. See more about Mary Pope here. Clearly, Mary Pope is motivated and effective, so we are in excellent hands!
Best of all, in the midst of all of this, President Stone truly understands the soul and culture of Sweet Briar, wants to preserve it, and takes actions to do so. He always talks about the importance of not just rebuilding Sweet Briar, but retaining the culture and soul of Sweet Briar because that is what makes Sweet Briar unique and exceptional. Holla, holla to President Stone and his administration!
While I always enjoy interactions with President Stone, my favorite part of the evening was getting to meet more amazing Sweet Briar alumnae! I met women from a broad age range, from a delightful young woman who graduated last spring, to women around my age, to much older women. I looked across the room and was surprised and pleased to recognize and reconnect with a friend that I hadn’t seen in probably 20-plus years! Back then, I hadn’t even heard of Sweet Briar, but when my daughter was accepted there, I realized that she is a Sweet Briar alumna. Every time I meet a Sweet Briar alumna, I’m always so impressed — every one I’ve met is intelligent, self-motivated, solution-oriented, articulate, friendly and well dressed. I walk away from every Sweet Briar gathering thinking, “Wow, we are so blessed to have found Sweet Briar!”
If you have an opportunity to go to a Sweet Briar regional town hall or an alumnae event, I highly recommend it! Feel free to bring friends and prospective students — after meeting Sweet Briar alumnae, any high school student who wants to excel in life will want to consider Sweet Briar!
On a different note, I’m not sure when my next blog will be. I am recovering from breast cancer, and am having breast reconstruction surgery on Tuesday, Nov. 24. I tell you this because I don’t know how soon I’ll be lucid enough to write a blog entry, and I didn’t want you to wonder if I just fell off of the face of the earth. 🙂 Hopefully I’ll be back before the end of the semester.
I wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that it is restful and joyful, and you get to enjoy spending time with your daughter.
What topics would YOU like me to address? Send them to me at SBCParentToParent@gmail.com, and I’ll address them in upcoming posts, or sooner if needed. Until then, I’ll talk to you again before we know it!