After President Barack Obama’s campaign stop, Ohio University hosted a different group of guests Thursday, though their visit required substantially less preparation.
The OU chapter of Students for Education Reform hosted a group of more than 100 eighth-grade students from Nelsonville-York Middle School for a program dubbed “College 101.”
At 1 p.m., the students were scattered around 127 Morton Hall for their final activity, working in groups to build a structure from uncooked spaghetti noodles and Scotch tape that could support a small marshmallow.
That particular session was organized by the iBELIEVE Foundation, which provides educational and leadership-building opportunities — including financial sponsorships — to Appalachian teens, according to their website.
“They are extremely bright and energetic,” said Reneé Hagerty, a junior studying political science. “I think I’d forgotten what it’s like to be a middle school student.”
The daylong program began in the Research and Technology Center at 9 a.m., when the event organizers split the group up into two classrooms and gave an introductory presentation about college, said Tayler Showalter, a junior studying middle childhood education and the organizer of the event.
The students then had lunch provided by Chipotle, where they met with three OU basketball players. Afterward, the students went on 70-minute long campus tours, ending the day at the program sponsored by the iBELIEVE Foundation, Showalter said.
The College 101 program began with Princeton University hosting charter schools. OU is one of the first five universities to host a similar event, she said.
“I think every student should start preparing early because I think that every student should go to college,” Showalter said.
The ratio of impoverished students who go to college is 1-to-12 and students attending high schools in Appalachia can be even less likely to pursue higher education, Showalter added.
Joe Malesick, principal of Nelsonville-York Middle School, said this is the first time he can remember doing a college-visit program at OU in his 11 years at the school.
“(The program) does plant that seed in them, which is good because otherwise if they wait until they get into high school and they don’t decide anything until their sophomore (or) junior year, maybe that might be a little bit too late for them,” Malesick said. “This shows them the opportunities that they can have, so I think it’s a great thing.”
bv111010@ohiou.edu
