With the addition of esports and varsity hockey, Keene State has gained over 60 new student-athletes so far for this academic year.
“We have new esports athletes and we have 52 hockey players,” Vice President of Enrollment and Student Engagement MB Lufkin said. “I’m really happy with the results so far.”
Lufkin said the addition of the new sports has been an effective enrollment strategy for the college.
“Athletics, like student involvement, orientation, community assistance folks… all of those things really help the students to get engaged on campus and move forward,” Lufkin said. “So it’s equivalent to all of the things that we do for retention, which is attracting students that we think have the most possibility for success here at Keene.”
Lufkin added that she has seen an overall 14% increase in applications to Keene State for this semester.
“Keene State is getting on the consideration set more so that we’re on the list of colleges that students are considering and that’s where we need to start,” Lufkin said. “The more students that are considering Keene State, the more students that apply, the bigger chance we have to get in to capture them and have them join us here.”
Director of Athletics Marty Testo said he was pleased with the amount of new student-athletes in the athletics program.
“We brought in more first-year and transfer student-athletes this year than we did last year,” Testo said. “We also added men’s and women’s varsity hockey which is going to make that number look larger but our overall recruitment of first-year students and transfer students increased for sure.”
Testo also mentioned the KSC Baseball team is also trying to add a junior varsity team in addition to the varsity team.
Another team that has shown improvement in enrollment numbers is the track and field team.
“You’re basically talking about six teams when you talk about men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s indoor track, men’s and women’s outdoor track, so they’re recruiting for multiple teams,” Testo said. “They saw a pretty big increase in their numbers this year.”
Testo said the important factor that comes with athletic recruitment is seeing the potential in the athletes they are hoping to recruit.
“I think people forget at times in the recruitment world and athletics that the person you’re recruiting is nowhere near a finished product, right?” Testo said. “It’s where they are currently and where we can get them to be, both as an athlete and as a student, and as a person to be quite honest with you.”
Testo added, “I am extremely proud of the work on the recruitment trail that our coaches, our coaching staff, including our assistants do year in and year out to bring high-quality student-athletes to campus.”
Track and Field Assistant Coach Bill Edson did not respond to The Equinox’s request for an interview.
Nicole Dumont can be contacted at
ndumont@kscequinox.com
