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Class of 2023 Admitted Students Experience All-Things-Wes at WesFest 2019

Olivia DrakeApril 12, 201910min
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All Class of 2023 admitted students and their families were welcomed to Wesleyan April 10-12 for WesFest.
More than 500 Class of 2023 admitted students and their families participated in WesFest 2019 activities.

For three days, Class of 2023 admitted students and their families had the opportunity to learn all about Wesleyan during the 2019 WesFest.

Held April 10-12 on campus, WesFest provided campus visitors with multiple information sessions, campus tours, department open houses, attend-a-class opportunities, keynote speakers, meet-and-greets, student performances, a student activity fair, a concert on Foss Hill, and more.

Wesleyan received a record 13,358 applications for its Class of 2023, offering admission to 2,114 students (15.8%) from one of the most competitive, diverse applicant pools in the University’s history. Of those who were admitted, more than 500 attended WesFest. An additional 375 family members and guests accompanied them.  

“WesFest is meant to be a celebration of ‘all things Wesleyan’… to give pre-frosh the opportunity to explore and begin to envision themselves as part of this community,” said Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Nancy Hargrave Meislahn.

Meislahn and Wesleyan President Michael Roth spoke to the campus visitors on all three days of WesFest and welcomed questions from students and parents alike.

Admitted students also attended student-to-student panels where they met current Wes students for an honest and informative discussion about life, academics, and activities at Wesleyan. They also attended a comedy show, a fashion show, an a cappella concert, a reusable tumbler decorating party, a Long Lane Farm tour, fitness classes, a fire-spinning performance, a conversation with Class of 2023 Dean Jennifer Wood, and much more.

On April 11, Wesleyan alumna and New York Mets public address announcer Marysol Castro ’96 delivered the WesFest Alumni Keynote Address in Beckham Hall.

“Coming to Wesleyan really felt like a homecoming. I was surrounded by not just other Latinos, but students of color, international students,” she said. “Wesleyan is the place that teaches you to think; no one on this campus forces you into anything. No one will say, ‘This is A, and yesterday it was A, today it’s A, and tomorrow it’s A.’ They’ll present you A on a plate and say, ‘What is this?’ Now that has its pluses and minuses, because you can say, ‘Wow. I want this to be the letter M.’ And that’s great because you are honing who you are, as a human being and as a citizen of the world.”

Photos of WesFest 2019 are below: (Photos by Olivia Drake)

Wesleyan President Michael Roth spoke to campus visitors on all three days of WesFest.
Families listen to President Roth’s talk outside Fayerweather.
09:00 am - 05:00 pm Homerathon A Classical Studies WesFest tradition! Come hear the glorious and gory adventures of Odysseus as Wesleyan students and faculty read all of Homer's Odyssey aloud at locations all over campus. The event will conclude at 5pm with a celebratory goat roast! Join as we slip past Circe, spear the Cyclops, and munch on roast beast (vegetarian options will be available). Location: Various Locations Throughout Campus
Homerathon is a Department of Classical Studies WesFest tradition. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 12, students took turns reading Homer’s The Odyssey at various locations throughout campus. The event concluded with a celebratory roast “beast” dinner, which was open to all admitted students.
Students led campus tours throughout WesFest.
Students led campus tours throughout WesFest.
Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Nancy Hargrave Meislahn speaks to families on campus.
Wesleyan’s students of color presented their annual SOC Fashion Show April 11 in conjunction with WesFest.
Wesleyan alumnae and New York Mets public address announcer Marysol Castro '96 delivered the WesFest Alumni Keynote Address on April 11. Castro, the first Latina public address announcer in the entire MLB, also the host of The Weekly Good on OGTV and the wildly popular CTBites Hot Dish podcast. In 2010, Castro anchored weather at CBS's The Early Show. She spent two years at ESPN as a host and sideline reporter for the Little League World Series, Invictus Games, and Premier Boxing Champions.
Wesleyan alumna and New York Mets public address announcer Marysol Castro ’96 delivered the WesFest Alumni Keynote Address on April 11. Castro, the first Latina public address announcer in the entire MLB, is also the host of “The Weekly Good” on OGTV and the wildly popular CTBites “Hot Dish” podcast. “I never imagined that I would become a broadcast journalist. Maybe I’d get into sports, maybe I’d become a writer, maybe I’d dance. But the minute I started exploring what it meant to write and for people to read my writing, and then once someone put a camera in my hand, once I could be part of history and watch history unfold, that was the thing that was really cool,” she said. “But everything I did at Wesleyan whether it was studying, whether it was being part of a protest, it’s always been my passion to bring undertold stories into the mainstream.”
Several student bands performed during the lunch hour on April 12 as part of WesFest activities.

Additional photos of admitted students and their families visiting campus are below:

 

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