From the Dean of Students' Desk

Welcome to the third issue of the 2006-07 academic year for Staying Connected, a newsletter for parents of first-year students.

Residential Life

Once again, I am asking that you talk with your son or daughter about their plans for housing during the next academic year. All current campus residents were sent a form when they returned for Spring semester indicating a sign up time during the week of February 12th . At their allotted sign up time, they had the opportunity to choose with whom and where they want to live next year.

This all worked fairly well this year. For example, most of the spaces are already filled in East Hall. However, there are a few students who have yet to communicate with our housing staff about their residency plans for next year. The choices are narrowing, so all resident students should make sure to talk with our housing staff as soon as possible.

As a reminder, current first year freshmen from out-of-town (beyond a 35 mile radius of campus) are required to live on campus for two years (freshman and sophomore year). Freshmen from the metro area can choose to stay in campus housing for their sophomore year. Current commuters can also apply to live on campus for their sophomore year.

Sophomores have the option of living in East Hall, Loretto Hall, or the Webster Village Apartments. You can find more information, including room layouts and dimensions, online at www.webster.edu/housing. If you have any questions about campus housing, please contact Housing and Residential Life at housing@webster.edu, or 314.246.4663.

Student Leaders

I am happy to announce that we have hired a record number of students from this year’s freshmen class to serve as Resident Assistants (RAs) next year. This list includes:

• Alvaro Coronel, from Quito, Ecuador
• Lauren Meyer, from Portage, Michigan
• Jessie Chappell, from Alton, Illinois
• Katye Ellison, from Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Jabrina Simmons, from Dayton, Ohio
• Nadia Battle, from Orlando, Florida
• Tatenda Chibanga, from Harare, Zimbabwe
• Zach Haugen, from Farmington, Minnesota

These sophomores-to-be will join 13 upperclassmen on our residential staff.

We are in the process of hiring student orientation leaders for Fall 2007. So far, we have a record number of applicants (over 60) for these coveted leadership positions. Many of these applicants come from this year’s freshmen class. It is great to see our first-year students getting involved in campus life.

Student Athletes

Our men’s and women’s basketball teams finished their seasons in February. Congratulations to both teams for being very competitive in our conference and for doing a good job of being fine representatives of the University. Special congratulations to the men’s team for being regular season co-champions of the SLIAC. The men’s team included first-year students Justin Endo, Colin Regan, Josue’ Whitcomb, Cade Akers, Drew Horn, John Ortwerth, and Jason Terranova. The women’s team included first-year students Whitney Gelnett, Danielle Martin, Gwen Goedeker, and Jennifer Venegoni. The swimming teams have also wrapped up their season with a number of first-year students participating: Adam Raferty, Tyler Fitzpatrick, Nick Beckmann, Leah Bend, Kristen Fey, and Kasper Woldtvedt.

Activities

January and February were incredibly active months at Webster lots of student events and activities. Some highlights included:

• Christopher Gardner, author of Pursuit of Happyness speaking to an overflow crowd in the Loretto Hilton Center on January 29;
• Richard Dreyfuss speaking to students on February 3;
• Red Hot Fashion Show on February 8;
• Wayne Hoffman, mentalist and illusionist, performing to a full house in Sunnen Lounge on February 15;
• Habitat for Humanity’s Hurricane Katrina Benefit Concert in Marletto’s on February 23;
• Plus performances and exhibits by students in the theatre, music, and art departments, lots of athletic events, and a tournament hosted by the Forensics and Debate Team.

We hope to have another newsletter out to you in April. Please send us your suggestions for future articles.

Go Gorloks!

Sincerely,
Ted Hoef, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President and Dean of Students
hoeftl@webster.edu

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