25 From Decisions to Data: Analyzing Stetson University’s Acceptance Rate Surge
Dissecting the rising decision rate, one figure at a time
20 Curriculum in Motion: the 411 on 3:2+1
The who, what, when, and why of Stetson’s curriculum shift
11 Hired Hatters: Securing Student Employment
A short guide to getting a job on campus
Letters from the Editors
The Reporter
This Orientation Issue of the Reporter was created digitally over the summer by the new E-Board...
Editor-in-Chief, Ali
To: Reader
As you pick up this Orientation Edition of the Reporter, I hope you can see the excitement in every page that was curated by our fantastic new editorial staff, our Creative Team designers, and maybe a teaspoon of new year jitters. As this year’s Editor in Chief, I am delighted to see the passion in this edition and the ambition for every edition upcoming just you wait!
Executive Editor, Sara
To: Reader
This Orientation Edition of the Reporter is sponsored by the incredible editor team, a little too much caffeine and all the summer orientation students who graciously contributed their questions. As I step into the role of Executive Editor for the first time, I know that change can be intimidating. I hope this issue serves as a reminder that it can also lead to some of the greatest opportunities and experiences.
Managing Editor, Reagan
To: Reader
As we delve into this year’s Orientation Edition of the Reporter, I hope that readers, new and returning, can find something helpful in this issue. It’s my first round as Managing Editor, and I’m proud of this staff for their creativity and new takes on Reporter traditions.
News Editor, De’Vanese
To: Reader
Moving into this new academic year, we wanted to highlight the power of change. Whether that be in the form of new curricula and residential buildings, getting active, or looking at antiquated ideas from a new lens. As a first-time News Editor, I hope you enjoy this issue of The Reporter, centered around “Movement.” Hopefully, it inspires you to explore in your downtime or pushes you to switch gears when the pressure you’re feeling is avoidable.
Arts and Culture Editor, Nico
To: Reader
As we here at The Reporter make the move into the new year, with new executive staff, I am proud to be the newest Arts and Culture Editor for the Reporter. This is my first time writing for The Reporter, and I couldn’t possibly be more excited about this opportunity. I have had lots of experience with different styles of writing, but to be introduced to this new style and to have the guidance of the other editors has been great.
Copy Editor, Katie
To: Reader
I am so excited to begin working with the Reporter this school year! As editors, we are fortunate to explore the Stetson community through our art. I hope this edition encourages you to try something new and find your spot on campus this semester.
Creative Director, Michelle
To: Reader
I am a rising senior, fulfilling my new role as Creative Director for the Reporter! Layout and print design is my passion, and this project helps me convey the wishes of our writers to you. I hope as my team and I bring you new designs, you will feel engaged as you read, and perhaps even inspired to join my team yourself!
Ali Burgess Editor-in-Chief
Sara Ward Executive Editor
Arts & Culture Editor
De’Vanese John-Baptiste News Editor
Katie Eudy Copy Editor / Fact Checker
Michelle Marshall Creative Director
Reporter The
What are you looking forward to doing differently going into the 2024-2025 academic school year?
enjoying every second
Ali Burgess , Editor-in-Chief
Michelle Marshall, Creative Director
Sara Ward, Executive Editor
doing well in Chemistry
locking in
Reagan Shivers, Managing Editor
seizing all opportunities
De’Vanese John-Baptiste, News Editor
Katie Eudy, Copy Editor & Fact Checker
Nico Alonso, Arts & Culture Editor
having the energy
Maria Latour, Spread & Graphic Designer
Emy Acosta, Photographer & Photo Editor
Indya Mckoy, Photographer & Photo Editor
Sully Sullivan, Social Media Director
JOINING US
When it comes to joining Hatter Network, we are never not excited about someone wanting to join our ranks. If you want to write, The Reporter is the place. If you like to appreciate art, music and writing, Touchstone Literary Arts Journal is where it’s at. If you want to create your own podcast, or learn how to use the tech in our radio station, WHAT Radio is there. Hatter Network is an extacurricular media program run by students, for students, to provide them with the information we think they need to know, or an outlet for their creative endeavors.
If you’re interesed in getting involved, please email our Editor-inChief, Ali Burgess, at ajburgess@stetson.edu or apply on Engage.
ABOUT US
The Reporter, as part of Hatter Network, is the oldest collegiate magazine in the state of Florida. We publish four times per year, twice per semester. Florida Sun Printing prints 300 copies per issue on 8.5 x 11 inch, 80# Gloss Test. Most body text is set at 11 point Adobe Garamond Pro or Times New Roman with 13 point leading set with a combination of regular, italic and bold. All pages are designed using Adobe Creative Suite Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign. For additional information please visit hatternetwork.com.
Questions or concerns can be mailed to 421 N Woodland Blvd. Deland, FL 32723 or emailed to hatternetwork@gmail.com.
20
Curriculum in Motion: The 411 on 3:2+1
The who, what, when, and why of Stetson’s curriculum shift
Diving right in with the new Director of Athletics
Hired Hatters: Securing Student Employment
A short guide to getting a job on campus
DEAN, KAPPA DELTA, FEMALE LEADER
A look into the many lives of Lynn Schoenberg, dean of students
Voter Registration Drives and Spikeball Matches: Student Leaders Get Ready for Fall
A behind-the-curtain peek at the brains behind fall semester’s buzz
Curriculum in Motion: The 411 on 3:2+1
The who, what, when, and why of Stetson’s curriculum shift
From Decisions to Data: Analyzing Stetson University’s Acceptance Rate Surge
Dissecting the rising decision rate, one figure at a time
Ampers&nd
With Ricky Ray
Written by Sara Ward
I (virtually) sat down with Ricky Ray, the newly hired Director of Athletics to get to know him and his game plan for the Hatters to knock it out of the park this season.
Where did your love of sports initially come from?
I grew up in Raleigh. So right in the middle of ACC country with Duke, North Carolina and NC State all in there. I was exposed early to a great sports scene. I remember going to NC State games as a kid and thinking it was the coolest thing ever, it’s the atmosphere and the whole deal. I was always interested in it and had some opportunities in high school, to do some different things outside of playing like working games. It was the same thing when I got to college when I had an opportunity to work in the athletic department. It’s gone from there and hasn’t really stopped yet. It’s been a lot of fun.
What inspired you to take your love of sports and pursue it as a career?
I didn’t realize that I could do that. In undergrad, I got to see the inner workings of how everything runs and the effect that higher ups can have on students in their athletes, not just playing or coaching. And I had a couple of those people at Campbell University, coaches and people on staff that were really good to me as far as making me feel like part of the program. They let me kind of see the difference that I could
make. It was awesome and a great experience. And our industry is still very much a ‘who you know’ type thing so the first job I got was because my boss there knew somebody and it’s just kind of gone from there. I’ve always enjoyed being on campus. I think it’s one of the coolest places you can work. Just because there’s always so many things going on, it’s so vibrant. You also get to be on campus and get to meet so many different people. It’s a perfect mix.
What are your goals for Stetson
athletics?
First and foremost it’s about making sure that our students have a good experience. And I’m always careful to say students. I want our student athletes to have great experiences, obviously, I’m around them more, I can affect them more. But I think there’s things in athletics we can do to affect the entire community and make our events more appealing for students. Whether that’s creating work opportunities or creating these chances for our students to be more involved. Everybody says that line that ‘athletics is the front porch of the university.’ I want to make sure that our front porch is invited. We want our community to be a part of what we’re doing, whether that’s students, faculty, staff or the greater DeLand community. We want to make this a department that everybody can be proud of and that everybody can have a piece of to feel like they belong.
Graphics & Layout by Maria Latour
Ampers&nd
“ “ We want our community to be a part of what we’re doing, whether that’s students, faculty, staff or the greater DeLand community.
What have kind of been your immediate priorities as you’ve stepped into this role?
As we move into this next academic year the goal is to build off the success we just had. We won three conference championships this year, basketball, baseball, and women’s tennis. We went to an NCAA tournament in men’s golf for the first time ever. There’s a lot of success taking place. A couple other ones weren’t championship games but we were right on the cusp of doing some pretty special things. It’s all about finding how we can get just over that edge and really push forward. It’s been exciting to get in and explore it. If we can take advantage of what we accomplished last year, take advantage of the interest because of the basketball run, you only get the one first time. We’ve got to take advantage of that and continue to grow on the right path. Some of the longer term strategies are to grow our fan base, make the games more interesting, more exciting and just get people on board.
How has successes such as the men’s basketball team making it to the NCAA tournament for the first time served as motivation for the athletics department going forward?
Anytime, athletics as a whole, is successful, it’s going to help the institution, period. And that can mean 100 different things, it brings more eyeballs, brings more Google searches, brings more applicants and brings more people in our space to see what we’re doing. If they’re on our campus to go to a basketball game, they’re going to see that we’re building a new dorm. They’re going to see all the other things we’re doing. It’s all tangible. The same thing as you get three championships, all of a sudden, everybody else in the department wants to add one. If we can win three or four this year it’s just going to keep building. It shows that when we focus on what we have, instead of what we don’t have, the sky’s the limit on what we can do. We can go play UConn on national TV.
“ “ It shows that when we have, instead of what we don’t have, the sky’s the limit on what we can do.
What kind of
changes are being made to overcome challenges within the athletics department?
It’s a wild time. In general and in college athletics. I think the transfer portal has changed a lot of things, it’s changed a lot of the way we have to conduct business because we can’t ever stop recruiting. We have to recruit kids out of high school, kids that are in the portal and the kids that are already on your roster. We’re never stopping. With those, it puts a lot of emphasis on the experience and the relationships that you’re having with your student athletes. There’s this house settlement and a lot of stuff going on with the NCAA that means we’re gonna lose a lot of revenue. We’re all having to figure out how to make do with a little less. It has changed the game. From my chair, I’m curious now. The people that would give and donate to building projects in the past or operating budget, now have to decide to donate to NIL to help keep players. It’s a really unique and challenging time. I still think that there is plenty of room in the model for people that just want to come get an education and play their sport. That gets lost sometimes.
How
do you plan on improving the overall student athlete experience at Stetson?
e fastest thing we can do is be aware of what challenges they’re facing. Mental health is a massive topic right now. As it should be. I’m fortunate, I grew up in an era without social media. I cannot imagine what that’s like, how that a ects you, having that in your entire, essentially existence and then having to cope with all of the challenges that brings on top of study, getting an education, playing your sport and trying to get better. It’s a lot. e positive thing is that people are actually talking about it now because they weren’t when I was in college. It’s anything we can do to try and make those resources more available. e same thing, again with nutrition. ere’s these things that we haven’t gotten to yet or done in the past where we can really try to help. Sometimes nutrition just means making sure that a er a late practice that the cafeteria is open. I think we must be cognizant of the challenges and be able to understand that the challenges are going to change. ere’s going to be di erent stressors so it’s understanding how things ebb and ow. ere’s things we can do as a department to try and help with some of these new challenges.
What excites you most about joining Stetson's athletic department?
It sounds cliche but the biggest goal is to leave this place better than I found it. From my standpoint, the thing I can bring is some fresh eyes, some new ideas. I’ve told our sta , I’m going to ask a lot of questions and not to interpret those questions as me being negative. I’m trying to gure out why we do what we did. It’s nding a way to do it more e ciently. It’s making those incremental gains, that when you look back at the end, and you think, wow, I really did a lot. I haven’t been here all that long but I still haven’t made up enough ground in my mind. I get to work on my patience. I want to make it a place that our coaches and our student athletes and our sta are proud of. ey continue to do everything in our power to help grow the overall brand, grow the name, get John B. out there and get the whole deal out there to help us grow enrollment. I want to do my part to keep the institution thriving.
What impact do you want to have?
I think that our best is yet to come. In my experience, athletic departments have their peaks and valleys. We had a couple of things happen last year that had never happened, which is great. at means we’re on the right track. at will give us the space to now try to grow and try to do the things that can help make the institution proud. We’re all going to grow and learn together. From a personal standpoint, it’s really cool to be surrounded by people that are all getting a er it and are not scared to try new things because I think that’s what can separate us a little bit. It’s the people I met during the hiring process. It’s the people who show how incredible the school is. You can tell there’s a lot of heart for the place, the people are here to love it. To me that energy can solve a lot of problems right o the bat.
“ “
I want to make it a place that our coaches and our student athletes and our staff are proud of.
Written by Reagan Shivers Graphics & Layout by Michelle Marshall
HIRED HATTERS: SECURING STUDENT EMPLOYMENT
As the Fall semester begins, the various opportunities for campus involvement can be a bit overwhelming. For new and returning students alike, searching for student employment can be a daunting task. If your daily scrolling on HatterJobs is seeming futile and you’re starting to think that all the jobs on campus are somehow already taken in the first week, don’t fret–there are many employment opportunities on campus.
First things first: go to your MyStetson portal and check HatterJobs for new listings. Searching these listings mid-semester may not have the most desirable results. When all else fails, it’s time to network. As you settle into your new classes, keep up to date with your major’s department for any work-study positions that open throughout the semester. These positions could range from social media management to clerical assistants. Being an active member of your department by attending events and staying up to date with its social media pages and newsletters can increase your eligibility for these jobs.
BEING A FAMILIAR FACE IS THE FIRST STEP.
For first-year students, creating a LinkedIn page and connecting with other Hatters can present unique opportunities for employment or off-campus internships. Following the Student Employment office on social media is also beneficial because they will often post upcoming job openings throughout the semester.
CREATING A NETWORK OF CLASSMATES, PROFESSORS AND MENTORS CAN IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF EMPLOYMENT IN A POSITION THAT BENEFITS YOUR FUTURE CAREER ASPECTS AND IT MAY CREATE OPPORTUNITIES THAT DID NOT ALREADY EXIST.
Although generally unpaid, positions like teaching assistants can bolster your resume and create lasting connections with students and faculty.
If a work-study position does not fit your schedule and an unpaid internship is not ideal, look into different funding options. Programs like the Internship Impact Fund from Stetson Career Success can help fund transportation and other costs for an unpaid internship. Additionally, there may be funding available in your department for an internship or research endeavor, like the Stetson Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) grant. The Student Employment Office and Stetson Career Success have several lesser-known resources like resume tools and templates, career counseling and paid microinternships that you can access online. As you walk around campus, make sure to look out for any events like free headshot photography sessions and tabling by businesses.
No matter where you are in your Stetson journey, there are always options for career development. Whether through the Federal Work-Study program, a micro-internship or student organizations like our very own Hatter Network there are paths to make your time at Stetson meaningful for your future career.
Written by De’Vanese John-Baptiste
Graphics & Layout by Maria
Latour
Photos Provided by Lynn Schoenberg
Dean
Kappa Delta Female Leader , ,
Dean of students...
From the moment you meet her, Lynn Schoenberg will speak to you with excitement and exuberance. This gleefulness is in full view as she shares, “Helping people, that is my ultimate motivation. I didn’t seek out to be a Dean of Students. But when opportunities presented themselves, I thought ‘what’s the best way I can help?”
Two decades after completing her undergraduate education, Schoenberg finds herself with an enduring commitment to the Greek Community and at a university, quite like the one that nurtured her, in prioritizing rich student experiences. The name of the school where she got her bachelor’s, Lynchburg College is not the only thing one would find ironic about her professional
journey. Seventeen years ago, Schoenberg was originally hired as Stetson University’s Coordinater of Health and Wellness Initiatives. Now as Dean of Students, she spends hours sitting stationary through meetings. In her current role, she works with Campus Life and Student Success (ClaSS) as a representative for students. Schoenberg tackles these meetings with the hope of addressing student concerns and lessening their potential to face harmful challenges. Still, she finds the time to get up early and says of her typical routine, “ I like to exercise in the morning, it’s really helpful for my mental clarity.” As she continues to describe her day, filled with surprises and adaptation, her penchant for habit forming still lingers beneath the surface.
A Kappa Delta
From the moment you meet her, Lynn Schoenberg will speak to you with excitement and exuberance. This gleefulness is in full view as she shares, “Helping people, that is my ultimate motivation. I didn’t seek out to be a Dean of Students. But when opportunities presented themselves, I thought ‘what’s the best way I can help?”
As an alumna of Kappa Delta sorority, Schoenberg continues to “build pride” and “inspire action.” For a year after her graduation, she worked as the sorority’s Collegiate Development consultant. It was during this time, visiting over twenty-two college campuses, that Schoenberg realized she loved working with college students.
“What I’ve always thought is so important for students is overall wellness, their overall holistic lives,” Schoenberg said. “My suggestion is to get that entry level job that you really are excited about.”
As she began looking for jobs in the Central Florida area, Schoenberg became president of the Orlando-based Alumni Association for Kappa Delta. “When people ask me what sorority I was in, I always correct [them] and say I am a Kappa Delta.” Retaining the
position once she began as dean of students, the Panhellenic or Greek events she has seen on campus remind her of the power of collaboration, a virtue that speaks to her.
“I’ve always been a person who had friends in different groups,” Schoenberg said. “Even though I adored my sorority sisters, and it was a wonderful experience for me, I also had friends and other organizations and so [those events] bring people together.”
What I've always thought is so important for students is overall wellness, their overall holistic lives
A female leader
After 17 years and three different university presidents, Schoenberg has witnessed many changes throughout her time at Stetson. “The Welcome Center didn’t exist when I got here. Brown Hall didn’t exist. McMahon Hall, it’s a long list of physical changes. But even then, I feel like we’ve worked so hard to shape our traditional beauty right at the same time.” However, Schoenberg reflects on the changes she experienced during COVID-19, “I learned some of the greatest leadership lessons that I might ever learn in my whole life,”
Schoenberg said. “It is really important as a female leader to be in spaces where you’re trusted to make really important decisions. Because women have a lot to offer in that voice, right . . . In those spaces, and also as a role model.”
She attributes the task force’s award for extraordinary leadership, awarded by the American Council on Education Women’s Network of Florida, partly to the perspective that she and Dr. Theresa Radwan had as mothers. Prioritizing, what she calls “worklife integration” she sees the team’s response to COVID-19 as having been, “very middle ground compared to our peer institutions, especially other private schools. We took some risks in our decision-making, but
we had a very comprehensive program.”
Schoenberg, an adult whose undergraduate experience markedly shaped her future, saw an avenue that preserved the communal living that defines student’s college experience while also keeping them protected.
It is really important as a female leader to be in spaces where you’re trusted to make really important decisions.
Because women have a lot to offer in that voice, right . . . In those spaces, and also as a role model.
class of 2028
As she continues to serve the next generation Schoenberg wants to, “extend a giant WELCOME to our new incoming students. I said that my favorite day of the year is commencement. My second favorite day is very clearly move-in [day] and FOCUS [orientation]. I love seeing students from when they're a first-year student, all the way to commencement, and how they evolve. Can't wait to meet you new Hatters.”
Written by Katie Eudy Graphics & Layout by Michelle Marshall
spikeball matches : student leaders get ready for fall
Fall at Stetson is classically lively, with a variety of events to welcome students back to campus. Behind the excitement of the fall semester are student leaders who spend the summer and orientation periods working with their organizations to create campus events and prepare their teams for the new school year.
Victoria Ramón ’24 is the student director of Stetson Votes*, the nonpartisan voter education, registration, and turnout organization on campus. “I was always passionate about making sure people knew how to use their rights,” Ramón said.
As the student director, Ramón is in charge of creating Stetson’s voting action plan and coordinating staff within her organization.
“I have the visions, and my team makes it happen,” Ramón said proudly. “We want to register 90% of all Stetson students. And then out of that 90%, we want 90% to turnout.”
A 90% turnout for the 2024 election would be a 12% jump from the previous election, something Ramón is confident her team can accomplish.
The fall semester is a crucial time for Stetson
Photos Provided by Victoria Ramón
Votes, as the organization puts on a massive registration drive during FOCUS (Friends on Campus Uniting Students) Orientation.
FOCUS is a five day student-led orientation period for incoming students. At FOCUS Orientation Stetson Votes will distribute prepopulated voter registration forms that only require students’ social security or driver’s license numbers and a signature.
Ramón is also excited to share one of her most recent projects: the student ID initiative. “This
I wanted to be that student for others, to show others that they could.
year, we’re trying to make it so that our student IDs are voter friendly. And the addition is, we’re now doing a signature on them.” Students can show their signed Stetson ID when voting, in lieu of a state-issued ID or driver’s license.
As a queer and Hispanic individual, Ramón is also passionate about being the leader she needs on campus. “I didn’t always have that representation in student leadership,” Ramón said. “I wanted to be that student for others, to show others that they could.”
Student leadership at Stetson takes many forms. Jayriliz (Jay) Leguillu’s ’26 work on campus involves movement in a literal sense. Whether she is on the court making calls or posing with an championship t-shirt on her organization’s social media,* Leguillu’s enthusiastic personality is well known throughout the athletic community. She has found a way to merge her love for sports with her working life, as a referee and supervisor for
the Intramural Sports organization at Stetson. Leguillu was voted Female Athlete of the Year in 2024, an award voted on by the intramural sports community, recognizing sportsmanship and athletic involvement. “I was awarded because I played almost every single sport and won three championships,” Leguillu said with a smile. During the 2024-2025 academic year Leguillu won a co-ed football championship, soccer championship and a futsal championship on various teams. The Intramural Sports organization hosts various sports seasons that end with a championship tournament. They offer flag football, remote control racing, arrow tag, softball, spikeball, futsal, volleyball, discgolf, basketball and soccer at various times throughout the year. Students can participate in Intramural Sports seasons as an individual or with a team. There are team sign up forms and individual interest forms on the Intramural Sports website.
The first intramural sporting season of the year will be spikeball. Before each season, the intramural staff has several meetings to learn and
It overall rounds me into a better person and a person I want for the future,
practice the sports they will be hosting. “We go over the rules, then we also play scenarios that could happen [ in the game ] so that we are prepared for the unexpected.” Her team’s goal is to ensure that the referee staff feels confident in their knowledge of each sport and able to make their calls independently. As a supervisor, Leguillu will continue to referee games, but she picks up the extra responsibilities of ensuring her staff, athletes, and spectators are showing quality sportsmanship and following the rules of the events.
Leguillu contributes her communication and service skills to her role as a student leader. This has helped her build connections on campus. “It overall rounds me into a better person and a person I want for the future,” Leguillu said. “You bond and connect with faculty and they know you on a deeper level than just as a student.”
Victoria and Jay are two of many student leaders who build the Stetson atmosphere. As leaders, students mold their college career and campus to represent their passions. Becoming involved is extremely accessible, especially during the fall semester. Campus events and involvement fairs will help students become
familiar with what is available at Stetson and where they might be impactful as a student leader. Students can keep up with campus events through Engage.“Go to all of the events you can,” Leguillu said. “Don’t say no just because you don’t know who will be there.” There is a place for everyone.
#STETSON
VOTES
Instagram: @stetsonvotes
Website: www.stetson.edu/other/vote/
INTRAMURAL SPORTS
Instagram: @suintramuralsports
Written by Nico Alonso Graphics &
As we ring in the 2024-2025 academic year, Stetson’s campus is buzzing with new changes— a less obvious one being the new 3:2+1 curriculum. A few adjustments will be made to the way professors approach not only their class offerings but also their approach to experiential learning.
Layout by Michelle Marshall
So what exactly is this new 3:2+1 program? In short, the 3:2+1 program does what its name implies. In one semester, professors will offer their usual three classes, hence the “three” of the ratioed title. The “two-plusone” aspect refers to professors having the option to drop a class they would typically offer in the next semester and replace it with a third venture for students to participate in. These programs can range from different Study Abroad opportunities that were
not previously accessible to shadowing professionals in their desired career paths. From its conception, the 3:2+1 program has been about the betterment of Stetson from the perspective of its students and educators. Drs.
Eric Kurlander, Steven Smallpage and Timothy Peter are the main driving forces behind the installment of this new program into Stetson’s curriculum. They will oversee the board along with President Roellke to ensure that everything will run smoothly
during this pilot period. Entering the 2024-2025 academic year, a fire has been lit under many professors to get creative with what they offer, which will allow them to break their typical twoyear class cycles and offer new, creative programs.
this curriculum will also allow students to incorporate more experiential learning than they would receive in a classroom setting.
Department Chair of Religious Studies Dr. Christopher Bell is extremely optimistic about the success of this upcoming program. Majority of the department will be participating in the 3:2+1 initiative starting in the Fall.
“We're all doing different [projects] to accommodate it,” Bell said. “Dr. Chavez, for instance, is emphasizing ‘Religion and Video Games,’ and wants to create a sort of environment for students and professors to talk about that.”
Other projects include Dr. Palmer’s workshop with students and other institutions’ religious studies programs like Florida State University to develop an inter-institutional conference over the next year. Dr. Bell will have a Department Colloquium.
This Department Colloquium is a longstanding requirement in the Religious Studies department. Previously, this would entail students gathering once a week to immerse themselves in deep conversation, regarding various topics in religion. This stimulates the development of critical thinking and the destigmatization of conversation surrounding religion and theology. The efforts of all professors in the Religious Studies department would oversee this colloquium. Now, Dr. Bell will be able to take the Department Colloquium head-on as his +1, freeing up the schedules of other professors, and bridging credit to work that was previously overlooked by many as “extracurricular” or otherwise.
Changes like these would not disrupt degree requirements for the Humanities. Since the major requirements are generalized into different content sections, there will still be plenty of courses to choose from, especially with some overlap in requirements. The faculty are working on
having certain courses be “waived or remediated,” as described by Bell, for students in place of their participation in these +1s, to not prolong their graduation date.
Moving from the Arts to the Sciences, Dr. Michele Skelton embraces the benefits the 3:2+1 system has on STEM. She plans to take her students to the University of Central Florida College of Medicine’s Anatomy Laboratory, placing them directly in a medical lab to have them shadow first-year medical students. Although she was doing this previously, she will be able to offer this experience on a wider scale more often.
This will differ from her previous trips to the UCF MedLab through increased opportunities to shadow. It allows for students to seize more opportunities that are available. “If I am offering advanced anatomy in the spring,
I may only get my students to shadow them once,” Skelton said. “But if I can take the 3:2+1 and cross over fall and spring, I may be able to get students in three to four times now because they have more experiences in the fall than [they do] in the spring. And then in the spring, I can shift to actual lab experiences.”
The system is not without its challenges. Some departments are understaffed, causing issues in majors with strict and specific requirements or pre/co-requisites.
“The sciences are limited, usually by the lab space, not by the lecture space,” Skeleton said. “I can have
but if i can take the 3:2+1 and cross over fall and spring, i may be able to get students in three to four times now because they have more experiences in the fall than [they do] in the spring. and then in the spring, i can shift to actual lab experiences.
a huge anatomy and physiology class. I just can't accommodate the labs, because we're limited by how many people we can safely have in a lab with what we're doing.”
WOrd on The GrEEN
Stetson students are experiencing mixed emotions regarding the new 3:2+1 program. Especially students approaching their senior year.
Alexis Harrison ’25 expresses hesitation towards the new program. “I feel like it was good in theory, giving professors more time to work on outside-of-theclassroom things, Harrison said. “I feel like it makes it harder for students. It reduces the amount of classes that are available to take during the semester and it makes it harder to get to classes and to get the classes that are needed I feel.”
However, things may be a little calmer for Michael Terezakis
’27, a Religious Studies and Psychology student who doesn’t have any fear of adding a fifth year, with new and refreshing programs listed on his course catalogs as an underclassman.
“I personally believe that the 3:2+1 program is a great outlet for creativity for both professors and undergrads to try something new,” Terezakis said enthusiastically. “I have discussed with professors about their potential ideas and have seen the amount of passion they have when describing these possibilities. I am very intrigued to see how these programs will help students at Stetson flourish and learn in these eventful courses.”
Nonetheless, it is important to enter this upcoming semester with an open mind. After all of the work that it took to create this program, no stone has been left unturned in search of a better way to educate students before they go out into their post-graduate lives. But as students may see in the Fall ’24 semester, there is always room for improvement.
We’re searching for staff writers, cover models, and Stetson organizations to feature in upcoming issues.
Send a letter to the editor at hatternetwork@gmail.com or message @thereportermag on Instagram to get connected.
And of course, we’re always open to questions, comments and critiques
Written by Sara Ward Graphics & Layout by Michelle Marshall
From Decisions to Data: Analyzing Stetson University's Acceptance Rate Surge
In 2022, 94-percent of applicants to Stetson University opened their laptops to a letter welcoming them as new Hatters.
Stetson University is best known for its namesake — John B. Stetson, an entrepreneur who created what we consider the modern cowboy hat. Of the 7,344 applicants to be an incoming class of Hatters in 2022, 6,903 were accepted, marking a 10-year-high for the university. Like other small private universities and the world, Stetson University was unprepared for COVID-19. The institution, in which 96 -percent of its undergraduate students were awarded federal, state, local, institutional or other sources of grant aid in 20212022 had a hole blasted in their future budget.
volume increased by 30-percent from 2019-20 to 2022-23 as reported by the Common Application, a college admission organization that allows students to submit their applications to thousands of universities across the globe. Stetson was way off the average.
pandemic that convulsed colleges and terrified terraforms, Stetson needed someone to tackle the challenge of navigating what had never been explored before. Consequently, Nault chose to prioritize admitting students. Nault was taking over a department that controls all applications,
That would go against national trends, which show the total application
In 2021, Stetson University hired Raymond Nault as Vice President For Enrollment Management. This presented notable hurdles when dealing with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: amidst a
admissions, and final enrollment figures.
“We admitted more students to help with funds,” Nault said. “We had to. We attempted to recruit more — we just didn’t get the application volume.”
In order to address this, Nault had a particular strategy.
To battle the gap between budget and expectations, Nault chose to disregard incomplete applications instead of outright rejecting them. Just because a college application is started doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be completed, he reasoned. There could be elements missing — such as transcripts that would be required for admission. In the event
these crucial elements are not included in the application, they would not be accounted for.
For Nault, he saw this as a winning strategy to combat the effects of the pandemic.
“We have more net revenue,” Nault said. “You can do the things that the university wants to do new dorms, more study abroad opportunities, more faculty so you’re always balancing your yield.”
After three years of working with Stetson and the highest admission rates on record, it was mutually decided that Nault would part ways with the university, according to Nault.
In 2023, Jeffery Gates was hired as the New Senior VP For Enrollment And Marketing. He has a new strategy. Gates has 25 years of collegiate-level enrollment work in New York. He was presumably recruited to address the admissions rates.
“My strategy is to review every single application that comes in that is complete,” Gates said. “What I’ve done over the last 20 years or more is to review an application if there isn’t enough information. And after several times of asking students to complete their application, I would deny the application, because it’s incomplete.”
This recalculation included what would happen in the applications that were disregarded in 2022 had been denied.
Gates plans on having 13,000 applicants of which 8,100 are projected to be admitted. Under that plan, the admissions rate would be a record low 62-percent.
Currently, in 2024, Stetson has received 11,519 applications and has admitted 8,043 of them. That shakes out to a projected 70 percent acceptance rate, just as Gates predicted.
Two Strategies
Both Nault and Gates had presumably viable strategies based on different ways of calculation from the recommended practices that are outlined in the Guide to Ethical Practice in College Admission. There are no legal ramifications for the different calculations. Both are accepted under
Table 3Recalculated acceptance rates under Jeff Gates’ admissions strategy. Also included is a potential projection for the 2024 admissions numbers.
the guidelines.
For Hatters who just graduated, the 94-percent acceptance rate skewed the view of their accomplishments.
“It was a lot more challenging to earn a spot in here when I applied in 2021,” Izais Ocasio ’24 said. “I had to apply early to just get a spot and then the acceptance rate was just increasing to where it almost made the work seem wasted.”
Hopefully, Jeffery Gates is here to stay for the long run.
“I’ve been at this for four years,” Stetson University Admissions Data Specialist Peyton Hessler said. “There’s
been three different directors of enrollment since I started.”
Hessler is leaving the university to pursue other data analysis opportunities.
According to Admissions Director Shannon Greeley, turnovers are common at collegiate administrative jobs.
“In higher education, there is a high turnover,” Greeley said. “From recruiters to people switching jobs, to people taking better opportunities elsewhere.”
Board of Trustees Chairman Steven Alexander finds reasons to be
optimistic. Alexander pointed to new initiatives: hiring Ricky Ray as the new Director of Athletics and adding bathrooms and an elevator to Elizabeth Hall. Additionally, Alexander is currently working on a bond deal for the new resident hall that is set to break ground this summer. They will potentially sell $70 million worth of bonds to fund the resident hall.
“All this is helping to start turning things,” Alexander said. “This is helping to drive these numbers in a better way.”
Dear Reader
Segment:
Question By Morgan Ketchum
’28: How do I search for and get involved with clubs?
Written by Nico Alonso, Sara Ward, & Reagan Shivers
Graphics
& Layout by Maria Latour
Dear reader,
Coming into your first year, you’re going to reach a point where you enjoy the socialization you’ve gotten out of your classes and FOCUS group, but you’ll wonder where you can find social circles outside of the classroom. This is where Student Organizations come in. Depending on what you prefer to participate in, whether it be club sports, greek life, academic or social clubs, there are over 150 options for you to choose from. I know what you’re thinking– “150? How could I possibly look through all of those options and choose what’s best for me?” Well, fear not, dear reader, that’s what the Involvement Fair is for!
The Stetson Involvement Fair is a large-scale event that typically takes place within the first few weeks of classes. Every club, honor society, sport, and student organization under the Stetson sun is lined up all across the Carlton Union Building for you to visit their tables and get a better look at what they have to offer.
Now, one thing I have to warn you about is overinvolvement. You’re going to pass by plenty of tables as you walk through the Involvement Fair. Don’t feel pressured to sign up for every single club that asks for your email or hands you a little goodie. Balancing school and extracurriculars is key. Remember to prioritize and manage your time and you’ll be smooth sailing forever.
Nico Alonso ’26
Question by Shand Shraidah
’
28
: Is it really possible to balance good grades, school involvement and a social life?
Dear reader,
Welcome to some of the greatest years of your life. It might feel overwhelming now, especially as you transition from the familiar routines of high school. I won’t lie—it was challenging at first not being surrounded by the same people for seven hours a day, five days a week. That said, it is absolutely possible to balance getting involved, having a social life and earning good grades. In fact, these three aspects support each other like the points of a college triad.
By getting involved in campus organizations that match your interests, you’ll find your community. Joining clubs, societies or intramurals not only allows you to pursue your passions but also helps you connect with like-minded individuals. Before you know it, you’ll have built a vibrant social life filled with shared experiences and lasting memories. Take it one step at a time. Then, whenever you’re struggling in a class or need a study buddy, there’s always someone there to help you out. This interconnected support system will make it easier to thrive academically, socially and personally. It may not always be easy but remember to enjoy the journey and embrace every opportunity that comes your way.
You’ve got this.
Question by Korynn Goolsby
’28: Why did you choose Stetson and how is it preparing you for the future?
Dear reader,
As a commuter from DeLand, it is difficult to say that I chose Stetson for any reason other than its proximity and scholarships. But, as I enter my third year I can vouch for its unique opportunities. Within my first two years, I was able to become the managing editor of the Reporter, catch a work-study position on campus, go on a study abroad trip to the UK and complete a summer internship. And the best part is that I hardly had to search for any of these. In your time at Stetson, so many opportunities will present themselves to you and you won’t even know what to choose. Being active in your department is a game changer for career development, and you will find that you are much better equipped to take on post-grad after your time at Stetson because of this.
Reagan Shivers ’26
Shaking it Up
The writers and editors of the Reporter have a tradition of including a playlist along with each magazine issue. The songs on the playlist reflect both the theme of the issue and the mood of the team while creating this issue. This page includes a selection of the songs on the playlist; head over to Spotify to listen to the full playlist.
Curated by The Reporter Exec. Board Graphics & Layout by Michelle Marshall
