Sign In Sign-Up

Welcome!

Close

Would you like to make this site your homepage? It's fast and easy...

Yes, Please make this my home page!

No Thanks

  Don't show this to me again.

Close

Lodestone

" The Interview " by Martin Maenza

Clare Harper crossed her right leg over her left. She plucked a stray blonde hair from her black skirt, discarding it to the floor. Unconsciously, she started to drum her fingernails on the armrest of the chair but quickly stopped and put her hands in her lap.

C'mon, Clare, relax! You've been in a lot worse situations before -- like when you battled Assault ¹ or Doctor Ion 2! Just keep calm, be yourself and you can get through this.

A few moments later, a tall dark-haired woman dressed in a tailored navy suit entered the office, closing the door behind her. "I'm sorry about the delay, Miss Harper. There was a matter with the Registrars office that needed my immediate attention." The woman came around the front side of the desk and extended her hand. "I'm Mary Kingsfeld, director of Admissions."

Clare stood quickly and shook the woman's hand. "A pleasure to meet you."

Mrs. Kingsfeld returned back around the desk, so Clare again took her seat. "I hope you are enjoying your visit to St. Jude so far," the woman said. "Have you had an opportunity to see the sites?"

"Oh, yes, my parents and I have," Clare answered. "It's been a rather exciting trip so far. 3"

After sitting, Mrs. Kingsfeld retrieved a manilla folder from the corner of her desk, one with Clare's name on the tab, and flipped it open. She then looked up at the young woman and smiled. "So tell me, Miss Harper, why are you interested in Our Lady of Victory?"

"My maternal grandfather completed his undergraduate degree in chemistry at this university in 1950. He spoke very highly of his years here."

"Are you interested in pursuing a career in science as well?"

Clare took a quick sip of Diet Coke before answering. "Well, my mother is a science teacher, physics specifically. So science is certainly one of the areas I have interests in. I haven't completely decided on what area of academics I will pursue while in college."

"OLV is reputed for its science curriculum." Mrs. Kingsfeld gestured to a large brown brick building across the grassy field outside of her office window. "In fact, we just completed construction on a new research facility, donated in part by generous alumni."

The woman turned back to her desk and glanced down at the first paper in the folder. "I see from your transcript that you have excellent grades, an honor student. You finished your junior year very strongly."

"Yes, ma'am, I did." Clare blushed slightly.

"I see you have a well-balanced course load, with a strong focus on math, science and some computer courses. Is your senior year planned to continue along the same vein?"

"Yes, ma'am, absolutely."

"Very good," Mrs. Kingsfeld commended. She turned to the next sheet in the folder. "I see you also did very well on your SAT's. A 650 and a 730. Well above the OLV requirements for incoming freshmen. You will probably want to take the advance placement tests for both English and Math; you have a good chance at placing out of some of the initial courses."

She turned to the next sheet. "Now, let's talk a bit about your extracurricular activities. I see here that you served as vice president of the Spanish Club for three years." Mrs. Kingsfeld paused for a moment, then said "diagme un poco sobre eso."

Clare was thrown slightly by the request in Spanish. I should probably respond in kind. " Pero por supuesto!" She then proceeded to discuss, in Spanish, the club's trip to Madrid in 1997 that she helped to organize via fundraisers and such. Only once or twice were her pauses noticeable as she recalled a specific word or phrasing. After she finished, she took another drink of her Diet Coke.

" Muy bueno!" Mrs. Kingsfeld commended. "Very good indeed. Having a second language skill can be very useful and its never to late to pick up a new one. Recently I've started to parlez francais."

Clare nodded politely and thought knowing French could have proved helpful when I faced Lumiere 4.

The interviewer glanced down at the page once more. "I see you were involved with a few theatrical productions at school as well. Guys and Dolls. Murder in the Magnolias. Grease."

"I hope you aren't going to ask me to sing," Clare said half-jokingly.

Mrs. Kingsfeld laughed. "No, Miss Harper. Not unless you have a strong desire to."

Clare laughed too.

Mrs. Kingsfeld continued to enumerate Clare's activities. "I see you've also worked as a camp counselor for the last two summers."

"Yes, ma'am. My best friend Anita and I always got along well with the counselors when we attended camp as children; we decided that this would be a good way to give back to the program. In fact, last week we received calls asking us back for this summer. That will be in August."

"Excellent." Mrs. Kingsfeld gathered the papers and closed the folder. "From what I have seen here and talking with you, I believe you would fit in wonderfully at OLV." The woman rose from her seat. "If you would like a tour of the campus, I think I can arrange for one immediately."

Clare rose from her seat as well. "That would be great, thank you." And she breathed a silent sigh of relief, having made it through her first college interview.