Hi everyone,
As you probably know, returning students have now passed several important milestones — Alumnae Angels have paid their deposit; students had a counseling session with their academic advisor, registered for fall classes, and requested and received their room assignments. Whew! If you’re like me, it really starts to feel real now that the activities needed to start school in the fall have occurred. (New incoming students, don’t worry, all of this will happen for you soon!)
Plus, since my daughter Julia is an equestrian and goes back to school Sunday evening or Monday (after going to a show), we are now doing the myriad tasks necessary for her to return. It will be an even more bittersweet moment this year when she leaves: a huge sigh of relief that she is returning to Sweet Briar along with the sadness that goes with knowing we will see her even less. I know that it is part of our daughter growing up, and I want her to be the strong, independent, amazing woman that Sweet Briar is helping her to become — but my heart still misses seeing my girl every day.
Speaking of classes, are you comfortable with your daughter’s academic plan? Did she get all the classes she needs this semester? One of the many things that attracted our family to Sweet Briar was the school’s willingness to customize each girl’s education experience to help her best meet her goals. This remains so true now more than ever! My daughter is a rising sophomore and, of course, was worried that she wouldn’t get in all of the classes she needs (and as a pre-vet student, she has a very tight four-year plan to complete all of her required classes to graduate on time). But no problem — she got all the classes she needs!
From what I’ve been hearing so far, this seems to be the case for everyone. I know that the new leadership team is doing whatever it takes to ensure every student gets what she needs. If you have concerns about your daughter’s classes, please be sure she reaches out to her academic advisor first. Then you can reach out as well if you still have questions or concerns. If I can do anything to help facilitate or find someone for you, please don’t hesitate to ask!
Talking about classes makes me also remember another reason we love Sweet Briar — it is such a hands-on, experiential learning environment. You probably know from experience that you learn more and remember more from doing something than from just hearing about it. Plus, what really matters after all of this education is whether they can apply what they learn to the real world. So what do I mean by experiential learning? Just a couple of examples:
- Last year, first-year engineering students used a 3-D printer for class projects; at most other schools, you don’t get that experience until junior or senior year.
- My daughter, a biology and chemistry double major, used a scanning electron microscope multiple times for her experiments last year as a first-year. Many schools don’t even have one.
I could go on with more examples, but you get the point: Sweet Briar provides a personal, hands-on learning environment that you find at very few schools in this country.
A few other random things I wanted to be sure you have heard about:
- How wonderful that our new president and board of directors are “walking the walk” of transparency by providing updates from their meetings? You can find these either in the Vixen Watch (see below) or at the board of directors website. For more information on what’s been accomplished see this story on the College’s news page.
- Did you see how many alums have been coming to Sweet Briar these past three weeks to help get the school ready to open?! Wow, I am so impressed and grateful!
- Do you purchase from Amazon.com? There is a very easy way to contribute to Saving Sweet Briar — sign up with Amazon Smiles (www.smile.amazon.com) and 0.5 percent of your purchases will go to Saving Sweet Briar!
- How exciting to be recognized recently as the small college winner in Forbes #MyTopCollege contest!
- Did you know that you can subscribe to something called Vixen Watch that provides updates about topics of interest to Sweet Briar students, parents and alums? You can follow it on Facebook, or go to vixenwatach.wordpress.com and click on the “Follow” link in the lower right corner to enter your email address for updates.
- Did you know that professor Claudia Chang is conducting a newspaper contest for students called “Why I Chose Sweet Briar”? You can find out more information from Claudia at cchang@sbc.edu. Deadline for submission is Aug. 15. Please encourage your daughter to write a submission!
That’s all for today. 🙂 Next week I’ll let you know how we can meet when you bring your daughter to school.
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!