"There were so many things about art at Harvard that made my college career amazing, and I wanted to make sure others got that same opportunity," Padilla said.

FAP participants said the program's hands-on nature enabled students to get to know each other on a personal level.

"I composed a musical piece with three other women," said Hoyes. "We really got to know each other artistically and personally."

How many is tremendous?

Hundreds...of incoming first-years applied for the program last spring, Symonds said. Padilla said the staff chose a wide range of applicants on the basis of their sense of humor and enthusiasm.

"We have students who had studied at Juilliard to people who had done nothing artistically ever," Padilla said.

Much of the activity towards the end of the week at FAP was preparation for the Yard Pageant on Saturday night.

On the steps of Lamont Library, FAP students performed compositions created during the week. In addition, at the Carpenter Center's Sert Gallery, a student-curated exhibition of the Harvard University Art Museums' print collection was displayed.

In addition to participating in workshops on scenic art, stage lighting, theater improvisation and choral music, FAP participants heard speeches by Harvard arts luminaries such as Arthur L. Loeb, senior lecturer on Visual and Environmental Studies; Jeffrey Bernstein '89, conductor of the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus and assistant conductor of the Harvard Glee Club; and Marjorie Cohn, Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Curator of Prints at the Harvard Art Museums.