Schell Draws West Coasters to Marist

Here’s a thought: let’s say you assign a colored shirt to every student at Marist College. Each color corresponds to the geographic location that student is from: red for international, orange for the United States West Coast, green for the Midwest, blue for the Northeast, purple for the Mid-Atlantic, and indigo for the Southeast. Imagine every student standing on the field in Tenney Stadium and wearing their shirt.

At first glance, you are going to notice a lot of blue, thanks to the massive amount of tri-state area students. But amidst the sea of blue and other scattered colors, your eye is drawn to a cluster of orange: Marist’s transcontinental students, who have come a long way from home to receive their Marist education. It makes you wonder, though, how did this many Pacific-loving people wind up attending a school tucked away in the Hudson Valley?

Corinne M. Schell, the director of West Coast admission for Marist, might have something to do with it. Once a Red Fox herself, her job now is to extend the reach of the Marist community to the West Coast. Schell currently resides in San Diego, CA to enhance her own ability to connect with prospective West Coast students.

Schell said she “goes above and beyond” normal recruitment tasks. Bruce Raynes ‘21 from Los Angeles, CA recalled Schell as a “really friendly person… who answered all of my questions.” Accepted Marist students from across California were invited to the Newport Beach Country Club for welcome party in order to meet other Red Foxes from the Golden State.

But the sphere of Schell’s influence does not end in California. Whether it be at a college fair or a high school campaigning tour, Schell strives to meet with any student from Hawaii to Washington who might be interested in Marist’s offerings.

Grace Maeda ‘21 met Schell at a high school college fair in Maui, Hawaii. Maeda found Schell to be “extremely helpful” when applying to both pre-college and college. Both Raynes and Maeda emphasized Schell’s welcoming and friendly attitude as an admission representative.

Schell hopes to continue to see West Coast students find their home at Marist. “I would love to extend the overall number of students from the West Coast to be over 100 students and to have California be one of the top states, along with Hawaii, [that are] represent[ed in] the freshman class.”