News

This post is part of a new blog series called The Hill From A Distance that highlights how the St. Olaf community is moving forward together, even when we’re apart. Each week the series will feature a message from a campus leader — and this week Vice President for Enrollment and College Relations Michael Kyle ’85 shares an update on the incoming St. Olaf Class of 2024. Read his message below.

Who could have seen this coming?

The St. Olaf College admissions and financial aid team worked hard in January and February to review applications and make selections for the Class of 2024. The campus was abuzz with activity in March and our work turned to traditional admissions spring “rituals,” including mailing admissions decisions and financial aid awards and planning for the much-anticipated spring visits by admitted students and their families.   

The uncertainty and anxiety of late February bled into March, with increasing fear and worry.

Then the tsunami hit. Oles left campus, and the Hill was effectively shut down. I’ve worked at St. Olaf for 35 years. I have seen my share of challenges. Contrary to what some might say, St. Olaf has adapted to an ever-changing world. Perhaps, I thought, my experience and perspective would lend credible insight into managing through COVID-19.

I was wrong.

The run-up to May 1 had us asking a really challenging set of questions. How would students make a decision to attend St. Olaf without the benefit of a first or second campus visit? Really, could students and families make a college choice without the benefit of a campus visit? And even scarier: how could students and families pick a college for its characteristics and offerings when we might not even be able to deliver what drew them to us in the first place? We pride ourselves on in-person classes and instruction. We are committed to students living and learning in community with one another on campus. We have a long-standing commitment to send students around the world. If those elements of our identity and mission were absent, even temporarily, why would someone choose us?

May 1 came and went. We currently have 774 students who have made their commitment to the St. Olaf Class of 2024, and another 90 or so will decide by June 1 (about 400 colleges and universities formally extended their deposit deadline to June 1; we did not). Our goal is 785 first-year students, and we will get there in the next four or so weeks.

Neither my “wisdom” nor years of experience guided us to these results. Faculty and staff worked really hard to connect with prospective students in the “new normal,” and I know it made a difference.

At the end of the day, 774 students looked at what St. Olaf College is and made a bet that it would still be a college that values close interactions between and among students, faculty, and staff. They believe we can find a way to be residential, on campus, while also practicing the new term of their generation: social distancing.

At the end of the day, 774 students looked at what St. Olaf College is and made a bet that it would still be a college that values close interactions between and among students, faculty, and staff. They believe we can find a way to be residential, on campus, while also practicing the new term of their generation: social distancing.

Many members of the St. Olaf Class of 2024 were born in 2001; they are the 9/11 generation.  Now they have finished high school virtually, graduated from high school in absentia, and made a college selection during a generation-defining pandemic. September 11 may have defined their entry into the world, but it didn’t define their life. COVID-19 certainly challenged their last months of high school and their college search process, but it will not define their decision to become an Ole.

If that doesn’t speak to “Oles Can. Oles Will” I do not know what will.

Sincerely,

Michael