How many of you remember the prompt for your Colgate supplemental essay? I’m guessing not very many. We wrote tens of essays in our senior year of high school, and they were just a part of the process that we all loved to complain about. But think about how much time is spent by admissions officers crafting those prompts. There must be something that the school is looking for, and this X-factor can reveal a lot about the school’s priorities.

Approximately a year ago, I clicked submit on my application to Colgate University. It was a pretty basic application, and I never thought twice about what Colgate was looking for besides GPA and well-roundedness. I never considered that Colgate might actually have a vision for each class besides the cliché benchmarks of diversity and achievement.

I spoke to a friend of mine who’s applying to Colgate this year, and I assumed her supplemental essay would be the same as mine. To my surprise, it had changed in a drastic way. If I reflect back on the essay prompt I responded to, I’m still not sure what Colgate’s vision may have been. But after looking at this year’s supplemental essay and having spent a semester on campus, I’m confident there must have been a vision for my year because there definitely is one this year.

As of Jan. 15, high school seniors from across the world have submitted their applications to Colgate, and this is the supplemental essay prompt they had to respond to:

"At Colgate we strive to foster an inclusive community. Please discuss how your life experiences, family background, and/or culture has helped to shape you as a person. It would be especially helpful if you would also reflect on an experience which demonstrated your character and personal values."

I think this new prompt has an underlying significance that those who responded to it likely did not even realize. The fortunate thing is that for those students granted the opportunity to attend Colgate, they will come to appreciate it. Perhaps they will be one of the first classes to really remember what their essay prompt was, as they live surrounded by its impact each and every day.

The first sentence of the prompt sounds pretty cliche, but in my experience at Colgate, it rings true. Looking back, a low point for Colgate in terms of inclusivity prompted the sit in of 2014. After that, however, the school vowed to work towards “the common goal of creating a campus environment that is welcoming and supportive of all of our students.”

Those of us on campus now are witness to concerted efforts by Colgate towards achieving this goal. Over the summer, first years had to read "How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America" by Kiese Laymon, and then wove its themes regarding racism and privilege into our orientation week as well as many FSEM classes, all capped off with a visit by the author himself. 200 first-years are also members of the newly established Residential Learning Communities, intended to unite not only a diverse group of first-year students, but also to link them to upperclassmen to promote interaction between the classes. The goal is that for the class of 2020, every first year will be in a RLC.

The efforts do not stop with Colgate-initiated programs. Colgate has also responded in productive ways to events on campus that held great meaning to many students. On Nov. 5, students spoke out in reaction to newly publicized sexual assault statistics, encircling East Hall and the Center for Women’s Studies. That night, Colgate arranged to hold a forum to listen and react to student demands. The event was so well received that Colgate switched the location from the chapel basement into the chapel to accommodate as many students as possible. Earlier, on Sept. 20, campus was sobered by the deaths of two first-year students in a tragic plane crash. Perceiving the great impact this had on the community, Colgate offered a beautiful candlelight vigil on the quad that many students and staff attended. There was no hesitation in staging this event, and various groups on campus continued to foster communal tribute for the rest of the week.

The key thing to note between Colgate’s initiatives as well as timely responses is that Colgate is listening to students, and is acting to unite Colgate as a community — one that everyone feels they can be a part of.

I’m greatly encouraged by what seems to be another of Colgate’s concerted efforts to improve the culture on campus. It seems as if the class of 2020, like never before, is being screened specifically to see if they fit the bill of having good character and a willingness to be inclusive. I can’t wait to meet the newest Raiders and see how this campus continues to improve.