The first ever Homeschool Preview Day for Cornerstone University was on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

Darci Irwin, hospitality coordinator for the CU admissions office, said, “As an admissions office, we recognized that a noteworthy percentage of current students had been homeschooled prior to attending CU.

“We recognized that the jump from being homeschooled to attending a medium-sized university like CU can be an overwhelming transition, she said, so our team decided to create a visit day just for homeschool families.”

“They have different questions,” said Lauren Hines, communications assistant for the CU admissions office. “They’re a unique group, and we wanted to cater to their unique needs.”

The day had all the events seen at a Golden Eagle Day, CU’s visit days open to all students. Events included a lunch with students and faculty, the opportunity to attend classes, campus tours and a twist on the usual student panel – the Life at CU Panel: the Homeschool Edition.

The Life at CU Panel was an eight-student panel made up of current CU students who have been homeschooled. They were Ashley Bliss, Amanda Cook, Joel Thayer, Matthew Dull, Jacqueline Helbert, Stephanie Rose, Mark Muha and CJ Namenye.

The difference between the typical Golden Eagle Days and the Homeschool Preview Day was that everything was intended to answer the questions of homeschoolers. And, student volunteers and admissions staff were ready to respond.

“Most of the questions [from students and parents] were about the transition. They wanted to know if it was a shock,” student panelist Stephanie Rose said. “We talked about what we were and weren’t prepared for, adjusting to a classroom setting, funny stories and campus life.”

At the lunch, faculty and homeschooled students discussed the university, academics, and the transition from home school to college.

The Homeschool Preview Day was Irwin’s idea, Hines said. The admissions office began making the idea a reality in mid January, she said. Many people were involved in the event, including Irwin, the hospitality team in admissions and student volunteers, many of whom were home schooled themselves.

“It was important to us that current CU students that had been homeschooled themselves were involved in the day,” Irwin said. Twenty-two of CU’s homeschooled students responded and volunteered by serving on the student panel, helping them get to classes, and attending the lunch.

The hospitality team is a group of seven student employees who each play a different role in making visit days and other admissions events work, Hines said.

Thirty eight people attended the event, 17 of them students. There weren’t any no-shows, and three or four students made application deposits, said Hines.

In the evaluations given to the admissions staff by the students and parents, Irwin said 100 percent of students said they thought CU was a place that they could call home, the day met or went beyond what they expected and the day was helpful in their college search.

When the group of homeschooled students was asked to rate CU on a scale of 1-5 before the visit day, the average rating was 3.4. After the visit day, the average rating was 4.3.

“One parent made a comment on her evaluation saying, ‘There is such an atmosphere of heavenly proportions found in few places this side of heaven,’” Irwin said. “The day was incredible. The admissions team commented afterwards what a sweet spirit there was in the air. The families were engaged, receptive and a joy to serve.”