College Ready to Welcome Internationally Diverse Class, Orientation Begins Thursday, August 23

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Washington College is making final preparations to welcome the 405 members of the Class of 2016 to campus, readying dorm rooms and planning a packed schedule of orientation sessions and social events to help the new students feel at home fast.

The new class is one of the most international in recent years, hailing from 23 U.S. states and 16 other nations: China, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritius, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain and Sweden. 

Among the Americans, about 40 percent are Marylanders, and 45 of that group come from communities on the Eastern Shore. Females make up just over half the class (57 percent), more than a third (35 percent) were members of the National Honor Society in their high schools, and some 27 percent were recruited for sports. The new students will benefit from some $7.5 million in scholarships and financial aid. One more statistic of note: about 8 percent of the Class are Washington College legacies, meaning at least one family member is an alumnus.  

Although some athletes and international students will arrive a few days earlier, the majority of the freshmen will move into their campus residence halls on Thursday morning, August 23. That afternoon, while the students will meet with their Peer Mentors (members of the sophomore, junior and senior classes whose primary role is to help the first-years adjust to college life), their parents will hear advice from Provost Emily Chamlee-Wright and Dean of Students Mela Dutka about how to let go and cheer their student on from a healthy distance. Everyone reconvenes for a welcome program and reception with Washington College’s first couple, President Mitchell B. Reiss and his wife, Elisabeth, then the parents drive away and freshman year begins in earnest.

Over the following few days, the first-years will take part in numerous programs and meetings aimed at easing the transition from high school to college. Among other planned activities, they will learn about and sign the all-important Honor Code, take a walking tour of Chestertown, finalize their class schedules, party to the music of the band Hot Tub Limo, discuss the first-year read (Nathaniel Fick’s memoir One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer), and be amazed and entertained by the psychic feats of Banachek the Mentalist.. 

Click here for more details on the orientation schedule. 

Upperclassmen are scheduled to return by Sunday, August 26, and will join the new students that evening, along with faculty and staff families, for the traditional “All-Campus Picnic.”  Classes begin Monday morning.

International Writer and PEN Fellow Leila Aboulela to Read at Literary House on April 25

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Rose O’Neill Literary House will host one of the 2011 PEN World Voices Festival Fellows, Leila Aboulela, on Monday, April 25. In a program titled “New Writing from the New North Africa,” the author will read from her acclaimed work beginning at 4:30 p.m. on the enclosed porch of the Lit House, 407 Washington Avenue. The reading is free and open to the public.

Born in Cairo, raised in Khartoum, and now splitting her time between Abu Dhabi and Aberdeen, Aboulela writes short stories, novels and plays. Her novel The Translator was nominated for the Orange Prize and was one of the New York Times’ 2006 Notable Books of the Year. BBC Radio 4 has broadcast adaptations of her novels and short stories in addition to her radio plays The Mystic Life and The Lion of Chechnya.

Although she has lived and worked in Egypt, Jakarta, Dubai, London, and Scotland, Aboulela says that in her Islamic faith she has something she “can carry with me wherever I go.” Islam plays a major role in her life and the lives of her characters; she says of them, “They are not ideals or role models. They are, as I see them to be, flawed characters trying to practice their faith or make sense of God’s will, in difficult circumstances.”

Founded in 1921, International PEN is a worldwide association of writers that advocates for freedom of expression and emphasizes the importance of literature in the development of a world culture. Now in its seventh year, PEN’s annual World Voices Festival of International Literature brings together prominent writers from around the globe. This year’s festival will be held April 25 through May 1 in New York City.

For more information on “New Writing from the New North Africa,” visit http://lithouse.washcoll.edu. For more information on the International PEN World Voices Festival, visit http://www.pen.org/festival.