Lawrence University Welcomes Bigger, More Diverse Class of New Students

APPLETON, WIS. -- Their test scores notwithstanding, Lara Manzanares and her older brother, Agustin, are about as atypical as Lawrence University students come. And that includes more than just the cowboy hats they both like to wear.

While plenty of Lawrence students have learned how to handle daddy's Ford Mustang or Bronco, the Manzanares feel more at home on the original, four-legged version.

The siblings grew up on a 200-acre sheep ranch in La Puente, N.M., a mere map speck town of 50 people, 100 winding miles north of Santa Fe. Since the time they were youngsters, they've both helped their parents with the daily chores of caring for a flock of 800 ewes, a flock that swells to 1,200 each spring after lambing.

"We haven't had many students come to Lawrence with their particular background," admits Steve Syverson, who has directed admissions operations at Lawrence since 1983. "It wasn't hard to pick them out when they and their family came for a campus visit."

The pointy boots and Stetsons were obvious clues.

If not for a last second change of heart by Lara, neither of the Manzanareses might have found their way from the 7,000-foot elevations of the San Juan mountains of northern New Mexico to Appleton. As the valedictorian at Escalante High School with a 30 ACT score and interests in art, physics and Spanish, Lara was the object of many a college admission's office attention. Her mailbox overflowed with college recruiting brochures.

"The truth is, I decided I wasn't even going to open my mail anymore," said Lara, 18, who originally had her sights set on attending Colorado State University. "But then I got this letter from Lawrence. I was literally holding it over the trash can, ready to throw it out when I decided to open it."

To her good fortune, she discovered a letter inside from Syverson offering her a four-year, full-tuition scholarship to attend Lawrence as a National Hispanic Scholar. It was an offer too good to pass up.

While Lara attended the local high school, Agustin, the oldest of four Manzanares children, was looking for something different, more challenging, and opted for a military prep academy -- the New Mexico Military Institute -- 300 miles away in Roswell. Graduating a year earlier than Lara, he had an equally impressive academic pedigree (1510 SAT score) but was ambivalent about college.

Following graduation, Agustin put his "excellent" horse-riding skills -- "I'm not too modest when it comes to riding my horse" -- to good use. He spent the summer tending cattle on his grandfather's ranch as well as managing a herd he was contracted to care for. In the winter, he worked in a grocery store. But when he learned of Lara's National Hispanic Scholarship, he inquired about one for himself. Suddenly, attending college was back on his radar screen.

In March, the Manzanares family made the 1,400-mile trek to Appleton for a campus visit, dropping off a refrigerated truckload of meat in Albuquerque along the way. Despite the distance and differences from home, both Lara and Agustin found a place where they felt comfortable.

"The professors I met and the general atmosphere of the campus really appealed to me," said Agustin, whose academic interests gravitate toward philosophy and the classics. Outside the classroom, he'll compete for a spot on Lawrence's nationally ranked wrestling team.

"It is so much greener here than back home," said Lara, an accomplished weaver of blankets and rugs in the Rio Grande style who has been honing her skills on the loom since she was eight years old. "And everyone is so friendly. You walk down the sidewalk and people say 'hi' to you. That was a kind of weird at first."

As a member of the Lawrence women's varsity volleyball team, Lara arrived on campus in late August and has gotten nearly a month-long head start on her brother in the transition from shepherd to student. Having been away from the classroom for more than a year, Agustin is anxious to get back to the business of learning. And when he does, he'll do so with a perspective markedly different than most of his classmates.

"Growing up on a sheep ranch, you learn a great deal about responsibility," said Agustin, 20, who's planning on packing both his every day palm-leaf cowboy hat as well as his felt "Sunday going-to-town" hat for the trip to Lawrence. "When things need to be done, they need to be done right now. You don't have many illusions about life and death. Living on a ranch, you see how vicious and how beautiful nature can be, sometimes in the same incident."

Lara and Agustin Manzanares are not only members of Lawrence's largest class of new students in nearly 30 years, they also are helping to make it one of the college's most culturally diverse classes ever.

Lawrence welcomes 405 new students, including 355 freshmen, for orientation activities this week before opening its 153rd academic year with the start of classes on Thursday, Sept. 26. The 405 new students, the most Lawrence has enrolled since 423 matriculated in 1973, will push the college's total enrollment to near historic highs of close to 1,400. Lawrence reached its all-time enrollment of 1,429 in 1971.

Lawrence's enrollment jump to near record levels this fall is the result of a decision by the administration to gradually increase the size of the student body. Over the past five years, Lawrence's applicant pool has increased by 53%, while at the same time the college has become even more selective, admitting 11% fewer of its applicants during that period.

"We embarked on a multi-year process of raising our enrollment to 1,400 and we've come close to reaching that goal earlier than expected," said Syverson. "We're right on target of where we want to be with our new students, but we've also made strides in student satisfaction and retention, which has helped us make rapid advances on increasing our enrollment."

Lawrence's incoming students boast their usual impressive academic profile. Collectively they carry an average high school grade point average of 3.65 while 73% of them ranked in the top 25% of their graduating class. Curiously, for only the second time since 1989, this year's incoming freshmen feature more males (180) than females (175), bucking a national trend that has seen women increasingly outnumber men among college freshmen.

One of the goals each year in shaping the overall student body says Syverson is to cultivate cultural diversity. Among this year's incoming freshmen, the number of domestic minority students increased by six percent over last year, while international students will account for 12% of this year's freshmen class, up from 7% a year ago. Among all new students (freshmen, transfers and special students),19% hail from abroad.

"We're feeling very proud of the exceptional success we've had in attracting international students in recent years," said Syverson.