WASHINGTON 鈥� Shortly after 9:30 a.m. on a blustery Sunday morning, a bus from College Park pulled up to Noah Jones鈥� house in Bowie.
When the doors opened, out came members of the marching band, Testudo the mascot, and Shannon Gundy, the director of admissions at the university who was carrying the big envelope high school seniors are always hoping for.
When she knocked on the door, the band started playing and Gundy made it clear: 鈥淲elcome to the University of Maryland! We鈥檙e glad to have you as a part of our family.鈥�
While his parents beamed, Noah was nearly speechless, and clearly overwhelmed. He was also probably pretty tired, since his parents cut short a ski trip to help make this event happen in his front yard.
鈥淲e had to get up at 4 o鈥檆lock in the morning to get here on time,鈥� admitted Dwayne Jones, Noah鈥檚 dad. 鈥淚n all that sleet and wet and wintry mess, to get him, because he didn鈥檛 know. He thought we came home because I had a meeting.鈥�
This was the first of a handful of stops the admissions office was making around the state of Maryland today to let graduating seniors know they’ve been accepted at Maryland.
鈥淯nfortunately we can鈥檛 do it for everybody, but we want students to know how really big a deal it is that they鈥檝e been accepted to the University of Maryland,鈥� said Gundy. 鈥淎nd we want them to get excited about it pretty early on.鈥�
This is the third time the school has done acceptance events. How was Noah picked?
鈥淭he way he presented himself in his application for admission is something that鈥檚 important,鈥� said Gundy. 鈥淲e want students in this area, Prince George鈥檚 County, to know they鈥檙e important to the university so we wanted to have someone in this vicinity and he sort of fit the bill for all of the things that were important to us.鈥�
From there, 鈥渢he rest of it is really logistics,鈥� added Gundy. 鈥淚t comes down to things even as minuscule as can the bus fit on the street in front of their house?鈥�
Noah鈥檚 mom and aunt are both College Park grads as well, and he said he鈥檚 wanted to go there ever since he participated in a young scholars program in 2016. He plans to major in history.
