The Hispanic Student Association, Black Student Association and Native American Student Association are combining to host a new outreach event to make higher education accessible to minority students.
The event, Rising Stars Multicultural Outreach Event, will bring high school junior and senior students from under-served Oklahoma City public schools to OCU for three breakout sessions, lunch, a keynote speaker, and a student panel.
“The purpose of the event is to reach students that normally would not consider or hear about OCU,” said Bobby Trousdale, mass communications sophomore. “We aim to show underrepresented populations that there is a place for them here on our campus, and that higher education is within their grasp and capability.”
Rising Stars will replace the Latino Youth Leadership Conference, an annual HSA-sponsored event for Latino high school students. The conference was expanded to allow other minority students to attend.
The event will host more than 30 youth, with hopes of doing a follow-up event in late January.
“This is the first year we’ve done this, so we don’t really know what to expect,” said Russ Tallchief, director of student diversity and inclusion. “I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully it becomes an annual thing.”
The event will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, Nov 9 in the Meinders School of Business. It will include a tour of the campus, college and career preparation tips, lunch, essay writing skills, and a financial aid portion where the students will learn about the American Indian and Clara Luper Scholarships.
“We want to provide a well-rounded approach to recruitment by giving them the basic tools they need for the admission process and to be successful in higher education, and show that there are familiar faces here,” said Nayely Ramos, music education senior and president of HSA. “I can speak for the Hispanic experience of being first generation and not having anyone that has gone through the process before. We want to put a friendly face to the campus and help make that college process easier.”
Trousdale said he hopes the event encourages high school students to pursue higher education.
“My hope for Rising Stars is that we empower students to dream, reach and achieve their goals beyond high school. I hope that students are able to come on to our campus and love it as much as I do,” Trousdale said. “I hope that the Office of Admissions is willing to take this on every year as a traditional Admissions Event. I hope it shows them that there are students that want our educational offerings but aren’t being given the information or opportunity. That needs to change.”
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