Steven Strosnider, a senior at Francis Scott Key High School, was rapt as Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs Beth Gerl explained her role as the College’s leader of “things that happen outside the classroom.”

“We’re like our own city within Westminster, but our population is made up of 18- to 22-year-olds,” Gerl says.

Strosnider is one of six high school students, who took part Nov. 8 in the annual job shadow day. Other area high school students shadowed Dean of Student Academic Life Henry Reiff, Assistant Dean of First year Students Sarah Stokely, Director of Campus Safety Mike Webster, Residence Life Director Michael Robbins and Access Services Librarian Jane Sharpe.

“It’s exciting to give Steven a sense of how our campus works,” says Gerl, who let Strosnider sit in own two meetings she led with the directors of Campus Safety, Counseling, Residence Life, Career Services and others, discussing day-to-day operations, departmental policies and student issues.

For his part, Strosnider knows McDaniel. He participated in last summer’s Theatre on the Hill production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” and came to Homecoming. The AP literature student also attended a campus lecture by Keith Donohue, bestselling author of “The Stolen Child,” recommended reading for the class of 2011 and soon to be a major motion picture.

“Being able to meet with Beth one-on-one in her office and then see her in action in a meeting, I can gauge her importance at the College,” said Strosnider. “She really knows the students and procedures, and it’s great to see how connected she is in students’ lives.”

Strosnider, whose interests vary from history to literature and theatre, plans to either work in academic affairs or in theatre. McDaniel is among his picks for college.