Student Experience

‘Days on the Lawn’ Information Sessions for Admitted Students Are Back

April 4, 2022 • By Jane Kelly, jak4g@virginia.edu Jane Kelly, jak4g@virginia.edu

Dozens of students sit on the steps of the UVA Rotunda, as Robyn Hadley addresses them from a podium on the Lawn

Admitted students and their families gather on the Lawn April 4 for the first in-person Days on the Lawn event in two years.

On Monday morning, as temperatures slowly rose from the upper 30s, high school seniors who have been admitted to the University of Virginia and their families excitedly filled the steps of the Rotunda, facing the Lawn, for the first “Days on the Lawn” session in two years.

The program – which had been suspended during the pandemic – offers in-depth, in-person information to admittees who are still deciding where they want to go to college.

Following a rousing performance by members of the Cavalier Marching Band, Robyn Hadley, UVA’s vice president and chief student affairs officer, offered effusive welcoming remarks to the large crowd.

“Is there anyone here from the Class of 2026?!” she called out to the crowd, getting a refrain of loud claps and cheers.

Noting that she lives in one of the pavilions on the Lawn, Hadley said she had no doubt that in four years’ time, some of the prospective Hoos in attendance would be her neighbors, taking up residence in some of the Lawn rooms reserved for accomplished fourth-year students.

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Alita Robinson, a fourth-year student, also addressed the crowd. She is a Blue Ridge Scholar, a designation created in 2014 by Board of Visitors member John Griffin, who wanted to make world-class education a reality for excellent students facing financial barriers.

Robinson encouraged the students attending Monday’s event to seriously consider accepting their UVA offers, praising both the University’s academics and the joy of being a Cavalier.

With the conclusion of welcoming remarks, students and families fanned out in different directions for information sessions about the schools to which they had been accepted.

Days on the Lawn will occur on Mondays and Fridays for three consecutive weeks this month; the remaining dates are April 8, 11, 15, 18 and 22. Accepted students have until May 1 to reserve a spot in the Class of 2026, which enters in the fall.