Hilltop Views | Wednesday, September 9, 2009
NEWS | Page 3
Campus community mourns loss of student Bryce Bencivengo St. Edward’s University junior John “Quatro” Coleman Kiley IV died Aug. 23. He was 23. Kiley drowned while visiting his father in Osterville, Mass. He joined the university as a transfer student in the fall of 2007 and was a bioinformatics major. Kiley was born on July 23, 1986 in Boston, Mass. and moved to Fort Worth later in his life, attending Fort Worth Country Day School. Before coming to St. Edward’s, Kiley graduated from St. George’s School in Rhode Island. He often returned to Massachusetts where he engaged in his favorite passion, sailing. He spent many of his summers sailing competitively and recreationally, as well as teaching the sport to others at the
John Kiley Courtesy of Kiley family
Wianno Yacht Club, which is located near where he died. The campus community was notified of Kiley’s death on Aug. 25 via a direct e-mail from Dean of Students Lisa Kirkpatrick. “We always look at each tragedy like this on a case by
case basis,” Kirkpatrick said. “We don’t always notify the entire student body every time this happens, but this happened just as everyone was returning to school. This person was expected to be in class, so we deemed it necessary to inform the entire St. Edward’s community.” Kirkpatrick also said that students who may be struggling with Kiley’s death should seek help with the Counseling Center on campus. As the news spread of Kiley’s death, his Facebook page became a memorial to him from his friends and loved ones. Those who shared Kiley’s interest in bioinformatics were extremely saddened by the loss. “You never like to have a student die, but this is es-
pecially sad because John was just hitting his prime,” Charles Houser, Kiley’s faculty adviser, said. “John was hitting his stride. He was a special kid who was going places. He’s definitely someone you would have read about.” Senior Samantha Cruz worked with Kiley this summer on campus and is mourning his death. “He was so smart, and you
could tell he was going to do something big with his life.,” Cruz said. “He was also always willing to help me with anything I was having trouble with. He was so full of life and always happy. ” A memorial service was held Aug. 28 at the Wianno Yacht Club. From there, Kiley’s ashes were spread at sea. Kiley is survived by his father, John Coleman Kiley III, his mother, Deborah Scaling
Kiley, his sister, Marka Kiley, his grandparents, Sherry McKnight and Mike and Bettie Galloway, and his girlfriend, Alison Rodman. bbenciv@stedwards.edu
Despite economy, freshmen class grows Continued from page 1
odds pushing against them. Manier attributes the burgeoning freshman class to a number of factors, including tuition costs. “We said going into last year that we were very well positioned because St. Edward’s is a moderately priced private institution competing with much more expensive institutions,” she said. “We’ve built a strong admissions program and have been very proactive in
articulating to students that a private education here can be affordable. I think we were successful in counteracting the notions of country’s financial crisis.” Admissions, Manier said, is both an art and science. Manier said that much can rely on historic data and trends, but it also takes judging and balancing the feedback received from applicants, the financial aid office and admissions counselors. “We’ve become very
skilled at leveraging our merit scholarships and need-based financial aid,” Manier said. “We are better at predicting how students will respond and tweaking those amounts to distribute it wisely among students.” Manier said that she is pleased with the results of the tweaking and recruiting of the freshman class. “We hit the sweet spot,” she said. ccella@stedwards.edu
Statistics -Total number of students admitted by St. Edward’s University: 1970 Total number of students who deposited by the May 1 deadline: 720 Total number of students on the waitlist: 299 Total number of students who withdrew deposit since June 1: 54 Percentage of students who received financial aid: Approx. 89%
A Glance at the Class of 2013 -Gender: 62.5% female; 37.5% male Diversity: 58% Caucasian; 32% Hispanic; 5% African American; 4% Asian American; 1% Native American Average SAT score: 1128 Geographic locations: In-state: 89% Out-of-state: 8% International: 3% Number of athletes: Approx. 30 funded athletes; no data on walk-on athletes available. Percentages detailing religious affiliations and academic majors were not available.