Faculty delight as aspiring students attend TBC preview day

“We trust that this is going to be a meaningful day for each one of you, as the Lord guides you along the way,” David S. Dockery, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Texas Baptist College (TBC) said in greeting a room full of parents and aspiring college students attending TBC Preview Day on Oct. 25. “We’ve been praying for you, and our staff is ready to welcome you and to help walk you through this day.”

After a time of worship, current student Kaitlyn Maloney, who is pursuing her bachelors in humanities at TBC, also addressed the students and parents.

Maloney spoke of her journey to college following a high school experience that had tested her faith. Wanting to be at a place where it could foster and grow, she found TBC and discovered a passion for learning she had not felt before.

“I just really was impressed by the fact that these classes are not going to pull me away or dissect my faith, but rather challenge me in my faith and help me to grow in it,” Maloney said. “And I was really excited about all the topics that the classes were about. And I had not really experienced being excited to learn before, so that was really exciting to me.”

She finished her story with a powerful endorsement of the school and its core values as an institution in her eyes.

“TBC presents an opportunity for you to be equipped in your soul, not just in your hands,” she concluded. “In your heart, not just in your steps. And this is not a promise; it’s a challenge. So, I hope the Lord brings you here.”

TBC faculty and students share with those attending TBC Preview Day.

Preview Day is an opportunity for potential incoming students to learn what life is like as a TBC student, and the Office of Admissions strives to provide the best possible experience every year, starting well before the day arrives.

“We actually would say that Preview Day would start at the beginning of the semester,” said Armando Hernandez, director of Admissions. “We really start praying that the Lord would bring the people that he wants to this campus. It’s something that our department is very intentional doing. Every morning, we commit 15 or 20 minutes to the Lord, and that’s a culture that we’ve worked really hard to instill because we believe that unless the Lord is in this, the labor is in vain.”

Following the initial welcome and time of worship, came a campus tour, in which attendees were introduced to the campus as guides showed them the buildings and explained what purpose they serve.

After being shown the campus, the groups reassembled in the Naylor Student Center cafeteria, where they were not just treated to lunch, but to a one-on-one meeting with a variety of professors from the college, there to mingle and meet with the attendees. After meeting with a couple of different families, Marc Brown, assistant professor of church music and worship, was particularly pleased with the wide variety of backgrounds the attendees brought with them.

“It would be expected for TBC to be an appealing school for people that are relatively local, who are committed Christians, who may homeschool or may send their kid to a classical academy or Christian school,” Brown said. “But I spoke to a homeschooler family, a Christian school family, and public-school people. I mean, there’s a diverse sort of background and everyone’s pursuing their faith.”

Preview Day visitors receive a tour of the campus.

After lunch, the parents and prospective students split, with the attendees going to academic preview sessions and parents attending a special session where they were able to meet with admissions faculty that could answer any questions they might have.

The academic preview sessions gave attendees an idea of what the degrees they might pursue could offer, and insight on why one might choose a particular degree path over another. They also gave students the chance to experience firsthand what being in a TBC classroom might be like.

Meanwhile, the parents’ sessions offered information related to tuition and safety at TBC.

“There’s always a father that’ll come up to me and be like, ‘so how much is this going to cost me?’” Hernandez said, recounting a conversation from the parents’ session. “This past Preview Day, a father came up to me and said, ‘Well, all I got from that is that 90 percent of your students graduate debt free. Tell me more about that.’ The father is thinking, ‘How am I going to pay for this?’ …I said, ‘Well, it’s about $40,000’ and he’s like, ‘Okay, $40,000 a year.’ and I said, ‘No, no, no, it’s for the full program.’ And he was floored.”

They also spoke heavily on the investment in campus safety, elaborating on the campus having its own police department and close collaboration with the Fort Worth Police Department.

Preview Day provided a campus fair event that afternoon, highlighting the different offices and services the school offers to its students. Departments represented included Student Financial Services, International Student Services, Student Life, and many more. The day ended with auditions in the School of Church Music and Worship for those wishing to pursue a degree in the field, as well as the giveaway of a $1,500 scholarship to a randomly selected attendee. This year’s winner was Miley Armstrong, a prospective student looking to seek a degree in either Christian Studies or Humanities.

“At first it didn’t even process that I had won, but then, when it finally registered that they had said my name, I was so excited,” Armstrong recounted. “I just knew this was a sign for clarity that I needed to be at TBC. Now I am just so thankful that I am receiving this scholarship because it will be so helpful, and I am beyond glad that I went to Preview Day because it was an incredible experience and just solidified my feelings towards TBC.”

The TBC preview day was considered a success by those in the office of admissions who organized it, with 31 prospective students in attendance, according to Caitlyn Charlton, one of the main logistical organizers of the event in the Office of Admissions.

The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Preview Day will be held on Friday, Nov. 1, for prospective graduate students.