By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The telltale signs of Presidents Day were evident everywhere Monday on the BGSU campus.
Orange tote bags and orange day packs. Teenagers strolling with a parent or two in tow, and maybe even a sibling. Small packs of visiting families tagging behind a backward walking guide extolling the benefits of BGSU.
A contingent from the Falcon Marching Band in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union greeted visitors with peppy tunes. Upstairs aisles were set up in the ballroom with staff ready to help guide them into the next four years.
As of noontime, 1600 prospective students had signed in of about 4000 total visitors.
They included a lot of out-of-state students, said Cecilia Castellano, vice president for enrollment management. And many were high school seniors who had already committed to attending making a return visit to connect with faculty and the programs they are interested in.
Of the high school seniors who visit on Presidents Day, Castellano said, 70 percent end up as Falcons. “It’s a very high yield event, and it always has been,” she said. “They get a day in the life of a Falcon because our students are in class. Faculty are here. Staff are here. They can just picture themselves here.”
Danessa Walcott, from Dayton, is one of the committed. BGSU had the major she wanted, Forensic Science with a concentration on Forensic Examination. And the school was just far enough from her hometown. Her mother, Duana Walcott, was impressed by the welcome with Freddie and Freida making the rounds, and the marching band performing in the union.
Kaidance Levan, from Northwood, is considering either BGSU or the University of Toledo. She plans to study social work, but she also wants to sing. She’s been assured that she need not major in music to join a choir.
“It’s more welcoming here,” she said. Levan also likes that the downtown is vibrant and close to campus. That’s important because she’s visually impaired and cannot drive.
Jacob Helfer, from Pittsburgh, is one of the undecided. He’s looking at several other schools both in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
His mother, Tracy Helfer, found BGSU and suggested he apply. He has an older sister at Penn State, and Jacob wanted a smaller school, but still in Division I. A hockey player himself, he’s looking for a school with a strong sports culture.
He plans to major in business with the aim of continuing in pre-law. He was impressed with the Schmidthorst College of Business.
“I really like the campus,” he said “Everyone seems really friendly, really energetic.”
Helfer added said he appreciates the aesthetic of the campus. “It looks like buildings are very well maintained and the classrooms are nice.” Also class sizes are small.
“Everything ties together. It seems like an easy campus to figure out,” he said.
Still, he and his family plan to check out a couple more schools before he makes a decision.
Among the tables in the ballroom was for the Life Design Program. The program includes the Radbill Center for Life Design and the Kuhlin Hub For Career Design and Connections.
Though the program originated at Stanford University, BGSU has rolled it out on the largest scale, said Molly Weiland, a life design coach in the Radbill Center.
The staff at the Radbill can help students who undecided find majors, but their guidance goes beyond that.
They advise students in how to find clubs that align with their interests. They can direct them to services to assist if they have a problem adjusting to college life. The guide them along the initial steps to finding mentors and internships. The heavy lifting in finding a job beyond college, though, is done in the Kuhlin Center.
“Many students come in having these ideas that I need to have this one thing that I’m going to do for the rest of my life. I need to know that now at 18 otherwise that means I’m. failure,” Weiland said. But students may have more than one goal, more than one interest.
The life design coaches, she said, can help them “to find the thing that’s exciting to you” and then show them the next step in exploring that. That step will lead to new ideas, new connections “that will open up a whole new world. Then you’ll take the next step.”
Madeline Loso was on hand to talk about the opportunities for students, including undergraduates, to do research. She knows about that first hand. As a criminal Justice major at BGSU, she was able to present her research at a major conference in Chicago.
Julianne Shaffer was greeting students interested in the BGSU’s new School of Nursing. Many visitors have questions about bringing in college credits already earned through the College Credit Plus or Advanced Placement, she said. But what really sells them is viewing the facilities in Central Hall. Shaffer said they are impressed by how new all the stations are, and how up-to-date the technology is.
Joel O’Dorisio, a teaching professor in art and the director of the Arts Village, one of the universities learning communities, said it gives students interested in all forms of art a chance to live together. They need not be majors, either. They could be a physics major who likes to write poetry or a biology major who likes to draw.”
Castellano said campus enrollment is “headed in the right direction” with all the indicators pointing toward a larger class enrolling in the fall. “We’re optimistic.”
University staff and families, though, are facing a headwind because of problems with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. A snafu in the revision of the form that all students seeking need-based scholarships must fill out, as well as a mechanical error, has delayed when that data will be available. A speaker in a financial aid session in the union theater said it may not be until late March before all the data is available.
“We have to get through financial aid delays, and people have to figure out the financing, so we’re working very closely to help them,” Castellano said.
[RELATED: Some college financial aid decisions on hold while feds work to fix FAFSA]
Staff was set up in the union computer lab to help parents fill out the FAFSA.
But for some it was not a problem. Both Mike Helfer from Pittsburgh and Donivan Walcott from Dayton said they filled out the form without issues.
“People understand the government is delayed,” Castellano said. “So, we’re in a holding pattern. We’re all in the same boat.”
