The Mount welcomed the class of 2025, the Fourth-largest class in its history, with the total number of students at 1,418 and the first-year standing at 534 students. Last academic year, students lived on campus but attended classes remotely or in a hybrid format.
Although students were encouraged to attend classes in person on a limited-capacity basis, many decided to stay home. Now that strict restrictions have been lifted, the number of students living on campus has increased. This has resulted in more living spaces being occupied by on-campus residents.
Jamie Chong Brown, the Associate Director of Residence Life, claimed that there were some issues this semester regarding enough space for students living on campus. Brown explained, “A few rooms in the Terrace Complex and Sheridan Halls were converted to accommodate students temporarily as more space opens in the future.” Brown was also happy to add that the construction of the new 29-bed cottage was a welcome addition to our residential offerings.
Vice President for Student Life Bernard Franklin added that a new cottage is potentially in the works stating that the University might have to build another one.
As administrators, faculty and staff work together to make the Mount a safe and comfortable living community, Dean of Students Levi Esses said that “with making adjustments, we want students living on campus rather than having to try to find something off-campus or not having them come at all.”
Concerning the adjustments that have been made for first-year students, Levi noted, “We have converted one conference room in Brute to residential housing. First-year students have also occupied some of our emergency spaces in McCaffrey and Dubois 001, the ground level building in the terrace.” Those spaces previously served as quarantine locations, however, they are residential rooms for male first-year students.
Thanks to the Office of Admissions’ successful marketing and recruitment strategies, the University has a large number of students enrolled for the 2021-2022 academic year. Assistant Director of Admissions Henry Grant stated that when looking for applicants during the application process, “we are trying to figure out what kind of students we want at our university.” If an applicant, who was far from campus, wanted to stay closer to their family because of the pandemic, then that person was not the right fit.
Grant also noted that when it comes to expanding their brand, “they are looking to increase their brand in different areas.” Many of their recruitment activities took place around Frederick, Washington D.C. and other large cities such as Philadelphia and Baltimore.
The class of 2025 is an outgoing and driven group of students. According to Grant, these students are ready to get involved--a lot of them are going to get their feet wet, learn their way around campus and a lot of them are ready to go to work.
With campus slowly transitioning back to normal, the hopes are that this current semester and all semesters to follow turn out great. The Mount is prioritizing its students during this time. It has been taken into consideration that this will be the first time since the beginning of the pandemic when first-year students will be back to normalcy, nonetheless in a much different environment compared to high school.