Lawrence Today magazine, Spring 2005


September 2004: President Jill Beck greets members of the Class of 2008 on the first day of Welcome Week.

This year’s new students easily measure up to the strong academic profile that has become a hallmark of incoming classes at Lawrence. Collectively, they achieved an average ACT score of just under 28, with 24 percent ranking in the top five percent of their high school graduating classes. The average high school grade-point average among the incoming freshmen was 3.68.

Of the 358 members of the Class of 2008, 79 percent are candidates for the Bachelor of Arts degree, 10 percent are seeking the Bachelor of Music degree, and 11 percent are in the five-year B.A./B.Mus. double-degree program. Fifty-seven percent of them are women, and 43 percent are men. Their top five areas of interest, in order, are English, biology, music performance, history, and foreign languages. They come from 32 states and 26 countries.

Whether from around the globe or just around the block, notable achievements among this year’s new students are not limited to the classroom. Pyae Phyo Kyaw, the first student from Myanmar to enroll at Lawrence, gave piano lessons and taught English to several students at a school for the blind in Rangoon. Megan Roberts, a violinist from Lake Villa, Ill., performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Midwest Young Artists Symphony Orchestra at Chicago's Symphony Center. Becky Vodehnal of Denver, Colo., is a certified botanical illustrator. Softball pitcher Faye Eaton of Victoria, British Columbia, helped her Canadian team to a fourth-place finish at the Fastpitch Softball World Series in August 2004. Audra Hilse of Ham Lake, Minn., is in the process of writing two novels. Skyler Silverstrust of Riverwoods, Ill., is the country’s youngest nationally certified trainer of police dogs. Laurel Benson, Appleton, was among 19 national winners of the prestigious Siemens Westinghouse competition for science, mathematics, and technology.

Eighty-nine percent of the first-year students were awarded need-based or merit-based financial assistance, with the average aid package totaling more than $21,200. The comprehensive fee for a year at Lawrence, including tuition, double room, full board, and activity fee, is currently $32,418.