by The Cowl Editor on November 2, 2017
Features
By Sarah Gianni ’18
News Staff
Most students at Providence College can still remember the day they received their acceptance letter. The large congratulatory envelope from the Office of Admissions contained the news that they were officially part of the Friar Family. However, it is safe to say that most PC students did not have a video of them receiving their acceptance go viral online. But one Friar did.
Raychel Pesci ’21 is a freshman at PC from Hingham, Massachusetts who now calls her triple in Raymond Hall home. She is a finance major who is active in the Finance Society, PC’s Colleges Against Cancer chapter, and PC Republicans. How did Pesci come to call Friartown her home? “I hadn’t really found a school that I absolutely loved, so my mom suggested we go to visit PC and then Bryant during my college search,” said Pesci.
“The day I visited PC it was pouring rain, but I honestly fell in love with the school,” she said. Pesci described walking around campus during her tour feeling at home, as PC had many of the qualities she was looking for. “I had a very particular vision of what I wanted—a smaller school with a nice campus and not too much in the city,” she said.
“When I was here it felt like those scenes in Say Yes to the Dress—this is the one!” After her visit at PC Raychel said that she told her mom that they did not need to look at Bryant or any other schools.
She applied early decision to Providence, but was still nervous about being rejected. After countless days of checking the mailbox for her decision letter, the envelope she had been waiting for finally arrived.
“My mom told me to go down to the mailbox and check, and I remember saying that I didn’t even want to,” said Raychel. “I finally went down the driveway and when I saw the envelope in the mailbox I had never felt so happy in my life.”
Raychel’s mom was able to capture the moment on video, as Raychel fell to her knees in the driveway, laughing and crying, and screaming—a true freakout of excitement. “My mom sent the video to my older sister Meredith, who ended up posting it on her Facebook page.”
“I’m not quite sure how Facebook works, but all of a sudden the video was getting hundreds of likes and comments.” The video resulted in articles by Elite Daily, the New York Times “Best College Reactions,” and made a cameo on Raychel’s local news station. “I read all of the comments online, and it just goes to show how unique the people who go here are,” said Pesci.
“There wasn’t one rude or mean comment on the video, everyone was so overwhelmingly positive.” Raychel said the heartfelt comments reflected the main reason she ultimately chose Providence. “You can’t really explain the PC community, but I knew I wanted to be in a place with a strong sense of comradery.
“I had very high expectations for PC, and they have been met.”