by Chrissy Peake
Contributing writer
High school juniors and seniors came to Southeastern to tour the campus and envision themselves as college students during SE Live Wednesday, Feb. 8.
According to SE Recruitment Specialist Susan Hodson, 248 students along with 72 parents and counselors attended SE Live.
Some students came on buses accompanied by their counselors while others drove from cities all over Texas and Oklahoma accompanied by their parents. One student came all the way from Tennessee to attend the event.
The day began with registration at 8:15 a.m. in Montgomery Auditorium. The students watched performances by SE’s vocal jazz group Cat 5 and the Sparks Dance Team.
After an introduction from University Recruitment Coordinator Elizabeth Stidham and a speech from SE President Dr. Larry Minks, the students broke into small groups led by True Blue Ambassadors and attended several workshops.
According to se.edu, the True Blue Ambassador program is sponsored by SE’s Office of University Recruitment and the University’s Presidential Partners in order to promote student leadership and maximize recruitment. The True Blue Ambassadors are a diverse group of students who represent SE to prospective students and campus guests at events like SE Live.
One workshop was in the Glen D. Johnson Student Union Gym where the groups played ice-breaker games. They played a meet-and-greet version of rock-paper-scissors as well as Pictionary-charades.
The students were also encouraged to share their fears and uncertainties about going to college with each other. Some of the prospective students’ concerns were getting lost, failing, fitting in and leaving home.
The True Blue Ambassadors addressed the concerns of the prospective SE students by sharing their own experiences.
Lindsey Ludwick, SE junior and True Blue Ambassador, gave advice for new college students. She said, “Go to class is the most important thing. Everything kind of falls into place after that.”
Brennan Watkins, Wilburton High School senior, said his greatest fear about going to college is money. He also said what he enjoyed most about SE Live was “meeting new people and seeing that it’s not as scary as I thought it was.”
Another workshop was called “Money Matters,” which covered scholarships and financial aid. This workshop was led by Dean of Enrollment Management Liz McCraw and Director of Financial Aid Tony Lehrling.
McCraw emphasized the importance of filling out scholarship applications. She said that some scholarships aren’t awarded due to lack of applicants. Scholarships can be very specific, right down to what elementary school a student attended. McCraw also said applications should be filled out by the students and not their parents so they are more personal.
The “College Success Class” workshop was led by Associate Dean of Academic Services Tim Boatmun and Academic Advising and Outreach Center Coordinator Marlin Blankenship. This workshop focused on adjusting to college life.
According to Boatmun, being involved in campus organizations is imperative to a college student’s academic success. Boatmun also emphasized that lack of attendance is “the No. 1 reason why college students fail out of school.”
During the student workshop, a separate session and tour was conducted for parents.
After the sessions concluded, a hotdog lunch was served in the SE ballroom provided by the First United Bank. The Academic and Student Life Fair proceeded during lunch. This allowed the students to learn more about the different clubs and activities on campus.
Lunch was followed by a student choice session. Students were given the opportunity to tour the campus, go to the chorale open house, the band open house, aviation open house, admission and financial aid open house or the prospective student athlete open house.
Students had the opportunity to audition for the chorale and the band after SE Live adjourned. Admissions and Financial Aid Offices were open all day to the prospective students.