Prospective students 'Meet Mizzou'
by Kaity Kerwin, posted Feb. 28, 2008
More than 400 high school students from around Missouri and the U.S. visited the MU campus for Meet Mizzou Day on Feb. 18.
Representatives from almost all departments on campus gave the students information and encourgement at the Academic Fair at the Memorial Union. In addition, students could visit booths with information about student support services, including Air Force ROTC, Honors College, Student Success Center, Tiger Tech, and the University Bookstore. A special section of the Fair called Campus Life and Beyond offered information about Freshman Interest Groups, the Museum of Art and Archaeology and Study Abroad.
At the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) booth, students were directed to open house sessions at the Life Sciences Center Reading Room.
The CAFNR open house was organized by a team of four students enrolled in the event planning class offered by the Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) program. HRM majors Melissa Daniels and Elaine Donze, business major Sarah Hunkins, and marketing major Carly Wilhelm formed the team that handled this event and will also plan a similar event in May.
“Our event was Meet Mizzou Day, and our goal was to try and get as many of the CAFNR departments to participate in the event as possible,” said Melissa Daniels, event coordinator. “Each department that decided to participate was able to bring in any kind of display or information that they had available that would capture students’ attention.”
Participants included agricultural economics/agribusiness, agricultural journalism, ag systems management, animal sciences, biochemistry, hotel and restaurant management, natural resources, and plant sciences. CAFNR Ambassadors represented departments that could not attend the event.
Open house sessions were scheduled from 10 to 11 a.m. and from 2 to 3 p.m.
“We had a great turnout during both open houses, with the morning open house being so full that we ran out of chairs for everyone to sit in,” Daniels said. “Everything went great and we hope to have the same turnout if not better for our next open house that is going to be on May 8.”
CeCe Leslie, director of student recruitment, assisted the event planning team. She said the event was possible because of great collaboration and cooperation.
“I thought the event planners did a phenomenal job, and I think major credit goes to faculty and staff from the academic units,” Leslie said.
Reid Smeda, director of undergraduate programs in the Division of Plant Sciences, spoke to students who visited the plant sciences booth during the open house.
According to Smeda, about 16 students stopped in the morning session and eight to ten in the afternoon. Of the 26 to 30 students he spoke with, two seemed very intent to follow the plant sciences major. He also noticed that a lot of students stopped to see his colleague, Chip Kemp, at the animal sciences booth.
“It was an organized but casual event to survey potential majors in CAFNR,” Smeda said.
Meet Mizzou Day was effective because it allowed students to start with a broad view of the University and then hone in specifically on CAFNR, Smeda said. Prospective students could talk to faculty one-on-one in an unrushed manner and really see what professors and programs are like.
Visiting campus and meeting faculty are critical points in helping high school students make their decisions about where to attend college, according to Leslie. That’s why events such as Meet Mizzou Day can have a strong impact on the University’s student numbers.
