A project within the Canon Leadership Program, which provides leadership opportunities for University students, is helping to encourage younger students to attend college by showcasing opportunities offered at ASU.
Tanisha Gordon, focus outreach coordinator, facilitates the group and said the project’s participants try to engage high school, middle school and elementary school students about ASU in many ways.
“[Juniors and seniors] get a taste of what college is like through various workshops that expose them to campus clubs and activities,” Gordon said. “Younger students have more interactive workshops, like those through the outreach section of journalism, engineering and the ‘Science is Fun’ program.”
Different tactics are necessary to engage different students, and it’s important to know how to organize the presentations, said Karen Moser, program coordinator for campus visits.
“The most important thing to do is ask them questions to get them involved so it’s not … lecturing them,” Moser said.
A lot of students in elementary and middle school do not know what college means or what it entails, Gordon said.
“They tend to think college is like high school and are unaware of all the opportunities and freedoms they have once they get here,” Gordon said.
The particular project that Gordon and Moser facilitate is organizing a year-end presentation to help younger students relate to students’ college experiences.
“Professional photos don’t tell what really goes on at college. Prior to coming to ASU, I got excited about talking to current students and hearing their experiences. Hopefully it will get kids interested in college and particularly ASU,” said bioengineering freshman Carly Hom, who participates in the project.
Seeing photos taken by college students helps younger children relate to college experiences and allows them to see the realities of college beyond education, Hom said.
“Kids are not really sure what college is about. There’s so much more that you can get from college outside [of] an education, and it will show them the opportunities available to them,” Hom said.
Although Canon Leadership offers a variety of projects to students, Hom said the goal of her particular group reaches far beyond and affects a variety of prospective students.
“I thought this group was the most interesting and it would be a great opportunity. It really gets you involved in something that’s going to help the future of ASU,” Hom said.
Reach the reporter at asjohn10@asu.edu
