After a morning assembly that’s really a pep rally for higher education, replete with crimson banners proclaiming “Imagine U at WSU,” nearly 9,000 students will attend mini classes on subjects as diverse as fashion design, geology, city management and genetics.
Today and Tuesday Imagine U events will be held at schools in Tacoma, Spanaway, Graham, Bremerton and Renton on the west side. On the east side of the Cascades events are scheduled in Toppenish, Warden and Spokane.
While each event is a schoolwide opportunity for students to find out about college in general and WSU in particular, the target audience is students in underrepresented groups, including minority students or students whose parents did not attend college.
“The purpose of Imagine U is to share information with people who find it difficult to find us,” said Ermelindo Escobedo, associate director of admissions and director of Imagine U.
It’s a three-part message, he said: WSU wants you; college courses are interesting and within your grasp; if you prepare, you’ll have the skills and the financial support to succeed.
John Fraire, vice president for enrollment management, considers Imagine U one of the most important student outreach efforts WSU is involved in. And while it’s impossible to determine precise cause and effect, it’s clear those outreach efforts, especially to underserved students, are working.
According to 10th-day enrollment figures, universitywide minority enrollment increased from 14.7 percent in fall 2008 to 16.2 percent this year. More impressive, minority freshmen make up 18.2 percent of the Pullman class, compared with 14.4 percent last year.
The Tri-Cities’ class is 33.9 percent minority students, compared with 21.3 percent last year. In Vancouver, minority students comprise 21.1 percent of the incoming class, compared with 13.3 percent last fall.
Imagine U grew out of outreach efforts started by Mary Guenther and colleagues in the College of Sciences. When high schools called COS asking for material, Guenther would show up with brochures, but struggled to find a way to bring the excitement of a university education to underrepresented students.
About five years ago, she and Escobedo joined forces and Imagine U took shape with an annual budget of about $5,000. Despite reaching thousands of students each year, the program operated under the radar until Fraire made it a flagship program two years ago.
“Our university has tried for a long time – and very caring, hard working people have tried – to increase diversity at WSU and we just haven’t been able to get there,” said Deborah Baker, Imagine U director of outreach on the Pullman campus. But, she said, Imagine U, working in conjunction with a number of different programs, from Gear Up to student conferences such as CASHE, VIBES, SHAPING and others, does seem to be making a difference.
“I really think it has drawn a lot of attention to WSU,” she said. By incorporating faculty, staff and WSU students as presenters, she said, the high-school students are exposed to the richness of what a university education offers.
“Our main goal isn’t just to recruit,” she said. “Our main goal is to reach out and create a spark among those students who might not have even considered going to college.”
This year Imagine U events are planned at 15 to 20 high schools, reaching between 1,000 and 2,000 students at each school. Because the programs require so many faculty presenters, Escobedo typically schedules programs for the Monday and Tuesday of the Thanksgiving break and two days during spring break as well. The events have become so popular that he has schools on a waiting list.
In Wentachee, where Imagine U has held events for the past three years, Laurie Neal, coordinator of the Gear Up 21st Century Community Learning Center, said Imagine U is like a college visit for place-bound students.
Neal praised the program for being more than a recruiting tool for WSU.
“They understand that not every student is going to apply to WSU, but they want to give students a vision of what can be.”
Introducing students to college early helps them understand the relevancy of their courses and the importance of getting good grades, she said.
“If you wait until kids are juniors before you start recruiting them it may be too late.”
“We want to wow them academically,” Escobedo said. “We have the Richard Zack-caliber of professor out there.” Indeed, the list of fall 2009 presenters includes full professors such as Zack, an entomologist, one associate dean, many associate and assistant professors, graduate students, undergraduates, staff, alumni and friends.
What they share, Escobedo said, is a passion for research and teaching and a strong commitment to student outreach. All presenters are encouraged to make their presentations as interactive and hands-on as possible, he said, and the message to students is that college is interesting and relevant, not something to be afraid of.
“It’s a really fun opportunity for outreach,” said Jared Lisonbee, an assistant professor in human development. Lisonbee, whose current research includes preschool children and stress, said this is his second time working with the event.
“To take something I’m passionate about, my teaching and my research, and take it to a population that is very different from what I experience here in my classroom, is exciting,” he said.
In previous years nearly all of the presenters have been WSU faculty or staff, but this year Escobedo and Baker have been able to recruit a significant number of WSU alumni to present as well.
For instance, Jeff Bruce, a job training counselor in Tacoma, has signed on to talk with students about the importance of a college degree. Bruce, who earned a liberal arts degree from WSU, has government data to share with students about where the jobs of the future will be. With a strong work ethic and a college degree, he said, “you can adapt to almost any area” of employment.
In the afternoon WSU staff will hold more sessions, this time focusing on the challenges students might face – college is expensive, it’s far away, no one in their family has ever gone – and how to meet those challenges.
Then, Escobedo said, a parent session is scheduled for the evening. Parents sometimes arrive at those sessions a little apprehensive or anxious, he said, saying, “You’ve got my kid excited. How am I going to make this happen?”
“I tell parents, if your kid comes to us with a 3.5 GPA, we’re going to admit them to WSU,” he said. And once their child is admitted, financial aid, scholarships and loans can make their education happen.
“There’s money out there,” he said, but students have to start looking early.
While Imagine U is an intensive, daylong event, Escobedo’s goal is to form relationships with students that will span not just hours or days, but months and years. Ninth grade is a critical time, he said, and if he can get ninth-grade students thinking about college, he will follow up with them personally or through colleagues inside and outside of WSU to make sure those students can get support and assistance when they need it.
When possible, he finds WSU students who are alumni of a participating high school so that they can return to their alma mater and tell their story.
“That is so powerful for them,” he said.
Juan Chavez, a third-year music major at WSU, isn’t an alumni of any Washington high school, but he still has a powerful story to tell. He immigrated to this country when he was 18 and worked fulltime while first learning English and then earning his GED. No one in his family had ever attended school past the sixth grade, he said, but he eventually made his way to WSU and now, at age 39, he is pursuing a music degree.
At Imagine U Chavez talks to students about mariachi music, but what he really talks to them about is their future.
“I tell them this is an opportunity,” he said.
Escobedo said he doesn’t know of any other universities that conduct student outreach events in quite the same way; this is pretty much a homegrown concept that started with Mary Guenther.
Like Escobedo, Guenther feels strongly that WSU’s efforts must be coordinated, comprehensive and consistent if the university truly wants to build a more diverse student population.
“It takes awhile to build trust, and then you don’t just drop it,” she said. “They’ve been burned before.”
