KO opened its campus from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.on March 29, welcoming its accepted students to experience life at KO. Roughly 65 families showed up; students and parents went through different schedules, joining one another for the closing assembly in Roberts Theater.
Senior Associate Director of Admissions Sarah Lasoff said that the Accepted Students Day provides an opportunity for KO to showcase what the school is all about. “It’s a sampling of lots of very different things to experience KO,” said Ms. Lasoff, “and the goal is to convince the accepted students to choose KO as their next place to go to school.”
Both the accepted students and their parents started with a 15-minute welcome speech from Assistant Head of School for External Affairs Zaira Santiago.
Then, the students went on to an hour VQV session with Dean of Students William Gilyard and some current KO students at the Roberts Leadership Center to learn more about daily life at KO through a question and answer session.
Mr. Gilyard said that the VQV session was an experience created for the incoming students, where there were ice-breakers, mock advisee groups, and form meetings.
He also mentioned four seniors participating in the process: Keegan Toland, Varun Tankala, Lily Hammer, and Jenna Mick.
Furthermore, Mr. Gilyard co-moderated the “Life as a Wyvern” activity in the Conklin Library with history teacher David Baker for the accepted students’ parents from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Student panelists introduced themselves and answered questions that parents had about advising, student life, and clubs. Mr. Gilyard said that all of the panelists were honest, and that even though we were trying to attract kids to our school, we didn’t want to lie. He said he thanked them for being articulate, thoughtful, and intelligent. “They really did KO proud,” Mr. Gilyard said.
“Some parents already had students here, and they spoke highly of KO,” said Mr. Gilyard. “I have always liked the Accepted Students’ Day because to me, that’s one of the most exciting periods when I get to see new faces on campus.” He said that it is a celebratory event and that people are excited, trying to get a feel for the school, which makes the whole campus full of energy and enthusiasm.
After having an academic session with Associate Head of School Natalie Demers in Roberts Theater to learn about the academic journey at KO, students were paired up with current KO students to have lunch together and visit their classes, from 11:30 a.m.to 1:15 p.m.
Sophomore Juanita Asapokhai took incoming freshman Annelie on a mini tour after they had lunch. And then Annelie went to one of Juanita’s classes, science teacher Fritz Goodman’s biology honors class.
“You can see that she was having a great time through her smiling, laughing, and interacting with the class,” said Juanita. “It feels like déjà vu — the feeling of that I have already lived through something, like how history is repeating itself — and it is a wonderful feeling,” said Juanita.
