Do you remember the first time you came to Judson? If your first time seeing the school was move-in day, you are a pretty unique individual. The vast majority of us came for some sort of campus tour to help us make our college decision. For many of us, that happened on a Preview & Scholarship day.
Preview Days are designed to bring potential students and their families out to Marion to see the school. The event exposes prospective students to the sports, activities and academic programs on the Judson campus. The student ambassadors, clad in their trademark pearls and red blazers, give campus tours. Parents hear about Faith-Based Service and Learning and financial aid, and the prospective students, or “potentials” take scholarship tests and try out for teams. Current students and faculty often play a part in the college’s promotional work. For instance, current riding students demonstrate their equestrian prowess and the Judson Singers or Faith Ensemble may sing in the chapel. Per tradition, the different academic departments hold an activities fair in the parlors wherein student volunteers share more information about ways to get involved at Judson, depending upon one’s academic interests. While it may feel odd to current students to have strangers wandering around to take in the campus, Preview Day is an important step in the transition of a future Judson Girl from high school to college, and the few hours she spends on campus determine her impression of the school as a whole.
Lauren Hurt, a third-year senior at Judson, attended several Preview Day events, and she was impressed with a sense of Judson’s academic rigor, but she said she also “loved the people and the stories that I heard.” That personal touch affected her thinking as she made her college decision. She came to Preview Day because of her interest in the equine program, but the strongest thought she came away with was that “if I came here, there would be people here who would care about me and support me.”
Fellow senior Sarah Coker shared this sentiment on her preview day, and still says today that “Judson is […] a family, where everyone cares about each other and no one is alone in difficult times.”
Macey Carter, a freshman, came to the January 2016 preview day. It was through her experience at chapel with “her potential Judson family,” that she became “convinced […] that I was where I needed to be to grow spiritually.” While she was drawn in by the music department and Judson traditions, she also cited the atmosphere of the school and the people she met as factors in her decision to come here.
the moment when she “finally felt like a
Judson Girl and knew it was where I was
meant to be.” Photo courtesy of Macey Carter.
Junior/soph and transfer student Lauren Neary was also positively impacted by the musical exhibition given on her Preview Days. She described her mother as being “very cautious” about the school, but she was affected by the beauty of the choir and handbell performance. Neary emphasized that “Preview […] Day is the only reason I am here in all honesty.” She stated that neither she nor her mother would have been as likely to “[fall] in love” with the school if they had not attended. But fall in love they did. Neary described a moment as they walked onto campus for the first time, saying “It hit me [that] this place was really adorable, and I could see myself going here. I literally started skipping on the sidewalk.”
While Judson can speak for itself, the students, faculty and staff help to put the best face on the campus and encourage potential students to give this small school the chance she deserves.