The Spring Open House and Overnight Program (SOHOP), presented by the Hopkins Hosting Society, returned this spring drawing nearly 1,000 accepted students to visit campus. SOHOP gives potential incoming freshmen a glimpse of undergraduate life at Hopkins and enlists current undergraduates to act as their overnight hosts. This year Hopkins held two overnight sessions, one from April 9-10 and another last night.
“I think SOHOP has been going the best it’s ever gone,” Hopkins Hosting Society’s Operations Director Shelby Strauss wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “A lot of the executive staff has been working on this for three or four years; since the beginning. The events are pretty set so we have just been improving all the aspects of the events year to year. It will also make it easier to pass on the program to the next group of capable students.”
In addition to spending the night with a host in the freshman residence halls, prospective students had the opportunity to learn more about academics at Hopkins and meet potential future classmates. On Wednesday afternoon both weeks, prospective students participated in a number of “Blue Jay for a Day” activities that took them around campus and into the surrounding Charles Village neighborhood.
Visiting students learned all about the University’s clubs and organizations, as well as student services, at a student services and activities expo. The expo was followed by lectures from faculty members and a dinner with current students. Finally, visitors attended a student-organized night festival.
On Thursday, students attended a full day of activities including a welcome from President Ronald J. Daniels, academic presentations by major, housing tours, a networking lunch and info sessions devoted to Pre-Professional Advising, internships and research at the University.
Some aspects of SOHOP were new this year, as Hopkins Hosting Society’s Events Director Anthony Gacita explained.
“Each year, we work hard to improve our programming. We have added many events to our Blue Jay for a Day Program which includes tours to areas around campus. This year we have added a dining tour (including samples from Dining, thanks to Bill Connor!), a BLC tour and a campus ministries tour. We have also added events to our famous Night Festival. This year, we included a Rock Band game on stage, many awesome prizes and a new crab bake game! On the volunteer side, we have seen a record number of current students sign up to host,” Gacita wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
The night festival, held in the Ralph S. O’Connor Recreation Center, was packed with students on Wednesday night.
“I’m undecided. This is my first visit to Hopkins. I had heard good things. My favorite thing about SOHOP would be the macaroni bar [during dinner]; it was pretty solid. I really liked meeting the people too,” Sam Shapiro, a potential incoming freshman from New York, said. “I’m also looking at Northwestern and Tufts primarily.”
However, some students such as Naomi Rodgers from Nashville attended SOHOP having already committed to matriculating at Hopkins.
“All the hosts are great and all the organizers have done a really good job. I liked the cultural show. It was cool to see the performing arts groups on campus. I decided to come here before SOHOP. I tried to be really objective during all my college tours and when it came time to make a decision and I didn’t have to be objective anymore I found that I had already picked Johns Hopkins,” Rodgers said.
While more students attended the second SOHOP overnight program than the first, the attendance at both events went into the hundreds.
“We had around 300 come for the first week, and we will have 500-600 admitted students coming for the second week,” Strauss wrote.
Many Hopkins Hosting Society staff members have participated in the program throughout their undergraduate careers and have dedicated themselves to organizing and improving the program.
“The idea of hosting a prospective student was very exciting to me,” Strauss wrote. “I was involved in a lot of groups in high school and wanted to find some way of getting involved in college. Hopkins Hosting Society really called to me because I got to talk to people who were making the same decision I had made the year before. I wanted to get as involved as possible so I kept volunteering for positions and interviewing and eventually got a spot in the executive staff.”
According to Gacita, volunteering for SOHOP is a worthwhile experience.
“Everyone on the Hopkins Hosting Society executive board is committed to strengthening the Hopkins community by introducing admitted students to our vibrant student body. Working on the SOHOP program is the perfect mix of fun and hard work. We all love that feeling when our events work well and the admitted students see Hopkins in the best way possible,” Gacita wrote.
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