State of Admission

STATE ADMISSION OF

BY ASSOCIATE HEAD OF SCHOOL & DEAN OF ADMISSION PETER G. CURRAN

he 2019-2020 admission cycle was yet another remarkable year for Blair Academy.

We received nearly 1,300 applications for admission, the most in our history, and the School is fully enrolled for 2020-2021. Our 460-plus member student body includes young people from 25 U.S. states and 26 countries, and 150 are new to Blair. Each of our students brings unique interests, talents and passions to our community, and I am excited to see how they will make our hilltop campus their home this year.

Clearly, Blair’s warm and welcoming community, culture of caring, and distinctive academic and extracurricular programs resonate with families across the globe as they decide where their children will matriculate. In this annual update, I am proud to share some of the many ways—both traditional and innovative—that the admission team brought and continues to bring the one-of-a-kind Blair experience to life for prospective students and their parents.

Travel & Tours to Virtual Visits

Last fall, our admission officers traveled throughout the United States and to 10 countries, where they met with families and spoke to groups about all that Blair has to offer. They continued that work on campus, too, by hosting 200 families at our Fall Open House in October and conducting daily in-person interviews and tours into the winter months.

All of our in-person meetings came to a halt, of course, with the spread of the coronavirus, but the admission team quickly pivoted to digital engagement. Throughout the spring and summer, we leveraged technology to provide newly enrolled and prospective families online experiences that have been personal, uniquely engaging and quintessentially Blair.

Case in point is our Virtual Revisit Experience, which took place in early April. In a normal year, newly admitted students return to campus—or in some cases, visit for the first time—on Revisit Day to help them decide whether Blair is truly “their” school. Often, students tell me that the gut feeling they got when they saw all the smiling faces on campus, or the conversation they had with a teacher or coach who already seemed to know them, sealed the deal for Blair.

This year, we recreated the Blair community vibe online through live Revisit Experience sessions with School administrators; panel discussions with parents, students and faculty members; videos about Blair life created by students; oneon-one calls with faculty members; and a host of Blair resources that newly admitted students and parents could access with the click of a mouse. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback on the Virtual Revisit Experience, and we’ve continued to bring the “feeling” of Blair to the digital world ever since. Ongoing Outreach

Newly enrolled students and prospective families were the focus of the admission team’s creative virtual outreach this summer. We helped incoming Bucs build connections within the community earlier than ever before through frequent Zoom meetings with prefects and other students, and we conducted numerous one-onone virtual tours of campus for students who had enrolled but had not had the opportunity to visit. In addition, we paired each newly enrolled student with a current student “buddy,” who could offer advice and share insights about his or her Blair experience.

Prospective students and families enjoyed our virtual Spring Preview, which attracted more than 120 attendees from around the world, and seventh graders participated in “how-to-interview” workshops based on The Blair Leadership Stories Project. We also produced school-specific videos for more than 30 independent schools whose students regularly come to Blair, collaborated with Mid-Atlantic Boarding Schools (MABS) institutions to educate families on the value of the boarding-school experience, participated in countless video calls with individual students and families, and created an exciting and comprehensive digital campus web page, which serves as a launching pad for Blair admission.

I would be the first to acknowledge that the best way to get to know Blair is to visit in person, walk around our beautiful, historic campus and meet the members of our community. However, circumstances over these past months dictated that we find new ways of connecting with prospective and newly enrolled students, and I am proud of the many ways that the admission team and so many members of our community rose to the challenge. I am especially grateful to the alumni and Blair families who assisted us along the way—now, more than ever, your eagerness to share your enthusiasm for the School helps us to attract and enroll students who will make the most of the Blair experience.

Blair’s admission team is excited to get back on the road and to welcome visitors from near and far to campus! Whether or not that is happening by the time you read this, I assure you that we are continually developing new, creative and intentional ways to share Blair Academy with families around the world. We are eager to build upon our successful admission season with another outstanding year for 2020-2021. ■

WHY BLAIR?

WE ASKED FIVE NEWLY ADMITTED STUDENTS WHY THEY CHOSE BLAIR. HERE IS WHAT THEY SAID:

Ethan Lau ’23

“One of the most important factors that led me to choose Blair is its community. Blair’s tightly knit school community made me feel like I could fit in easily with others.”

Ella Gaitan ’24

“I want to be a part of something that will allow me to make great connections, academically and socially, with people I never would have met at any other institution. Blair is the best place for me to grow into the person I want to be.”

Hannah Bazylevsky ’22

“No other school I toured had a community that even came close to the one that I was introduced to at Blair. Blair truly radiates positive energy, warmth, joy and inclusion.”

Chris Couri ’24

“Blair is truly designed to give a once-in-alifetime experience. From the super fun traditions and tightknit community to the outstanding athletic and arts programs and stateof-the-art facilities, there is so much to like when it comes to Blair.”

Simisola Onakomaiya ’24

“I chose Blair because it is the most wellrounded of all the schools I visited and because of the strong bonds among members of the community.”