Each year, the Goldstein Fitness Center is besieged with nervous high school seniors, deciding their future education plans and determining whether or not Pace is the right place for them. Pace Preview Weekend, an event for accepted students highlighting the Pleasantville campus and all it has to offer, will take place Sun. Mar. 9-Mon. Mar. 10, and again Sun. Mar. 30-Mon. Mar. 31.

“This is a great weekend for accepted students to come see Pace and get a feel for what the Pleasantville campus is all about,” Admissions Counselor and Preview Weekend Coordinator Thomas Breitfeller said.

Preview Weekend kicks off on Sunday morning with a Welcome Fair for all accepted students, allowing these students the chance to become acquainted with the organizations and associations that embody the Pace community. During this period, there will also be prospects for students to get a tour of the Pleasantville campus, and to take a shuttle for a tour of the Briarcliff campus. The continually developing Master Plan will be introduced to the prospective students and their families.

The next segment is a program that will include an alumni speaker and student speaker sharing their experiences, followed by groups breaking out for lunch, individualized for their schools.

“This is a great opportunity for students to speak with professors and learn the specifics of what their school offers,” Admissions Assistant Mary Louise Santoli said.

The accepted students will then have the opportunity to partake in something new to Preview Weekend, the chance to attend two twenty minute break out sessions. Some of these sessions include, receptions for the Pforzheimer Honors College and the Challenge to Achievement at Pace (CAP) Program, Athletics and SDCA, Career Services and Study Abroad, and Residential Life and Campus Safety. The first day of programs will end with a presentation by SDCA on “Life at Pace: Beyond the Classroom” which will segue into the overnight component of the weekend.

Often times the overnight experience during Pace Preview Weekend is what sways uncertain prospective students towards commitment to Pace.

“None of the other schools that I applied to offered the overnight experience,” sophomore accounting major Joseph Goldpaugh said. “It gave me a real feel for what dorm life was all about.”

Prospective students can choose to stay the night with a host student to get a taste of what dorm life is all about. Current students who host preview students not only have the opportunity to gain housing points, but also have the opportunity to share personal experiences with their guests.

“You, the students, make up Pace, you are the ones that can share your experiences,” Breitfeller said.

The concept of a weekend for accepted, yet uncommitted, students is not a common practice found in many schools.

“I attended Cortland and they did not have anything like this – my first experience was orientation,” Breitfeller said. “I think the great thing about this is that Pace offers [Preview Weekend] for students who are interested, but have not yet made their decision.”

Pace students and faculty both agree that Pace’s Preview Weekend is a helpful experience when it comes to the overwhelming decision process.

“Preview Weekend gives students a hands on experience,” junior biology major and Resident Assistant (RA) Yarlie Pierre-Louis said. “At orientation, nobody is here except incoming freshman, but Preview Weekend gives a hands-on experience, and students get to know what really happens on a college campus.”

The Preview Weekend experience will conclude with a taste of the educational aspect, in which prospective students will attend classes, based on their school of preference. Potential nursing students, for example, will be treated to hands on labs simulating emergency, operating, and birthing room settings.

Whether it is through Alumni, Students and Professors Influencing Recruitment and Enrollment (ASPIRE), or through Residential Life, host students are encouraged to become involved in this special weekend.

“I’ve spoken to so many [families] on the phone that are excited about Preview Weekend,” Santoli said. “I’m looking forward to meeting those people and hope that this weekend seals the deal for Pace.”

All Pace families start out as individual families but ultimately, Preview Weekend is a contributing factor in what makes those individual families switch over to the Pace family.