Lee Day makes an in-person return

Lee University’s annual recruitment event, Lee Day, is being hosted in-person for the first time in two years.

On April 1-2, the university will welcome prospective students and their families on campus for a weekend of informational sessions, class sign-ups, musical showcases and more.

“We think Lee Day is a huge part of showing off Lee’s campus to prospective students and their families, because it’s really the best time where the current students can engage with prospective students and the families can see what life is like,” said Dr. Jayson VanHook, vice president for enrollment and marketing.

Director of Marketing Dr. Jeff Salyer, VanHook and Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Shane Griffith are a few of the various faculty members who worked together to plan the Lee Day return.

Friday’s events will include campus tours, residence hall open houses, tennis matches and more. The day will conclude with a Block Party on the SMC lawn and a U-Church concert featuring PASSION in the Paul Dana Walker Arena.

Saturday’s events will consist of various luncheons for students and parents, a worship rally, School of Music auditions and more. Lee Theatre’s production of “Tuck Everlasting” will conclude the weekend’s events.

VanHook and Salyer say Lee Day aims to immerse potential students in campus life at Lee.

“There’s no better way to decide if you want to be a part of a campus than being on the campus and experiencing everything that a student experiences,” said Salyer. “Lee is about a feeling, it’s about feeling a part of a community and embracing that as your future.”

In response to the pandemic, Lee administration decided to host the event virtually in the spring of 2020 and 2021.

“Simultaneous to the whole world shutting down, we had to figure out how to pull Lee Day off virtually [in 2020], it was sort of a scramble to get to that place,” said VanHook. “We made the decision to do Lee Day virtually again [in 2021] and we had more time to plan it, but it’s not the same.”

According to VanHook, Lee Day attendance has improved recently after dropping during the past two years.

“What we’re seeing with our preview days and our link-ups is that people are coming out. In our preview days, we had really strong attendance,” said VanHook. “We’ve had more campus tours this year than last year, so we’re starting to see people traveling and coming back – so I think that’s great for Lee.”

Lee Day events are open to the Cleveland community as well as to current students.

“I think for current students, we want them to know that we want them to be involved and to be on campus and engaged,” said VanHook.

Salyer said the focus of the weekend will be on potential students getting an accurate and engaging experience.

“It doesn’t matter if there are 500 students or 1,000 students on campus, we want them to feel that Lee’s home for them, and they can find a place here,” said Salyer. “We’re excited about having a big group of students and their families on campus and being able to share what we do and who we are, and get them to engage with our students.”