University gives prospects campus preview

The Mane Event Preview Day of the Fall 2011 semester occurred Saturday, October 15. from 8:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

The day held several festivities as student volunteers, educational staff and department representatives gathered to welcome the visiting prospective students from high schools and other colleges.

General arrivals for attendees were held from 8:30 – 9:30, during which guests were greeted by student ambassadors and university staff at the Sam Rayburn Student Center. After registering on the first floor, the guests were invited to continental breakfast in the second floor conference rooms for a formal welcoming by the staff. The breakfast was then followed by a series of general information sessions, covering topics such as residential living and learning and financial aid.

After the welcome, several smaller academic information sessions were held throughout the course of the day. One prospect has admitted to being very impressed by the warm welcome.

"Everyone has been really friendly and helpful," Santa Fe High School student Hannah White said. "It's been really great."

The academic information sessions were held to illustrate the requirements and opportunities of different educational departments, as well as help students to decide from a list of possible majors. Erick de la Garza from Richland College said these information sessions assisted him greatly in the understanding of the college.

"This school has a very good education program," Garza said. "I'm looking forward to attending next Fall."

Garza's positive feelings have been echoed by several other visitors.

"It's nice that everybody is open to talk to me when I go around places," Maggie Hammac, a Royse City High School student, said.

In addition to the academic information sessions held between 10:00 – 11:40, the student ambassadors were also conducting tours of the campus for the prospects and their parents. These tours ran regularly throughout the entire event from 9:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

As the morning came to a close, noon came, and with it free lunch along with the Information Fair held on the second floor of Sam Rayburn Student Center. The Information Fair allowed numerous department representatives and extracurricular communities to showcase what their fields of study entail in an effort to persuade the visitors to pursue a major or interest on campus. Several organizations were on the floor, advertising to catch the attention of prospects such as the Physics Department, Department of Social Work, and several Greek Life organizations.

"So far, this has been the biggest Mane Event that I've seen," Wildlife Society representative Leslie Green said. "Hopefully we can get our name out and get some people interested in us."

The Women's Agricultural society claims to be among the successful organizations in terms of turnout during the fair.

"We've gotten three times as many people interested here than we did the entire summer," Women's Agricultural society representative Haley Griffin said. "Things have been hectic and loud, but we're having fun."

As the Information Fair came to an end, the event neared its conclusion with scholarship drawings at 1:30 p.m. Visitors began to make their departures near the end of the drawings at approximately 2:00 p.m.