Send Comments to the Editors

U.S. Mail:
The Rice Thresher
6100 Main Street (MS-524)
Houston, TX 77005-1892

After their arrival at the Sallyport on Thursday, Owls met their hosts at the various colleges, attended a welcome session and had dinner with their hosts.

On Friday, Owls attended classes, academic meetings, an activities fair and a picnic in the Ray Courtyard of the Student Center. The Owls also had opportunities during their free time to attend college parties and other functions with their hosts.

Owl reactions to the weekend were varied. Although he enjoyed Owl Weekend, Lance Reinsmith from the Woodlands, an Owl at Jones College, felt the number of planned activities kept him from truly getting to know the Rice community. He felt that a more relaxed system would have been more effective.

"Owl Weekend was a really great experience, and I had a lot of fun, but I didn't think that we had enough of a chance to meet the other Owls or even get a chance to associate with the hosts of the other Owls," Reinsmith said.

Many of the Owls responded positively to their experience at Rice. Esther Sung from Houston, an Owl at Sid Richardson College, found the three English classes that she attended to be intriguing. "I liked the classes a lot. What I heard from the discussions and from the teachers' lectures made me really interested in what they were talking about," Sung said.

Many students felt that Owl Weekend was a positive experience for both themselves and their Owls. "I think that it was a lot of fun and that [my Owls] got a good impression of Rice," Brown college freshman Jim O'Donnell said. "I have been hosting prospectives all year long, and I hosted these two more Owls basically because I love Rice and I want them to, too."

"I thought Owl Weekend was successful because the Owls I talked to had good times. There were a lot of activities for them to do," Lovett College junior Brandon Fleet said. "I thought Owl Weekend gave an accurate idea of Rice and that it was good that we didn't have to gloss anything over to try and sell Rice."

Many students who hosted Owls did so because of their strong sense of Rice pride. "I chose to host because I am always interested in telling people about Rice," Wiess College freshman Deborah Yang said.

Some students chose not to host because of the responsibility attached. "I don't trust myself with an Owl," Will Rice college sophomore Todd Wille said. "I don't think that I would have been a very good host, because I wouldn't have been that social, and I wouldn't have shown my Owl a lot about Rice."

Hanszen college junior Becky Kessler did not host an Owl this year, although she did host one as a freshman, because, like many students who did not host, she did not have enough time to dedicate to taking charge of an Owl.

Some students felt that Owl Weekend could have been improved. "I hosted because I wanted to show my Owl that Rice is a really good school, but I felt that many students couldn't spend enough time with their Owls because of the school work," Lovett sophomore Art Aguilar said.

"Owl Weekend was held too late in the year when there seems to be a lot of last minute work to do," he said.

Some students also felt that this year's Owl Weekend failed to give Owls a proper view of what their futures at Rice could or would be like.

"Owl Weekend is not indicative of the way it really is [at Rice]. It is party after free cookies after party," Kessler said.

The general feeling among students and Owls alike was that Owl Weekend was successful on the whole. "I had a great time at Owl Weekend," Tony Licata, a Baker College Owl from Colleyville, Texas, said. "I liked the school a lot before I came and I fell in love with it while I was there."

This item appeared in the News section of the April 25, 1997 issue.