Earlier this summer FAMU hosted nearly 20 guidance counselors and academic advisers from high schools and community/state colleges in Florida and Alabama in an effort to boost its recruitment of higher achieving students and college transfers. The one-day workshop was organized by the Office of Enrollment Management, which deals with first time in college students and non-degree transfers, and the Office of Transfer Services, which deals with students entering FAMU with AA degrees.
The group was treated to a full day of information, activities geared toward providing them with an insightful look into all that FAMU’s 13 colleges and schools have to offer.
The morning presentation began with a message from President Larry Robinson, Ph.D., who acknowledged the importance of high school guidance counselors and community college academic advisers in helping students decide where to attend university.
“You touch students on a daily basis and we want them to attend FAMU,” Robinson told the gathering. “Of course, we want your best and brightest. They help drive positive data for us. And we’re doing better at attracting high performing students.”
Following speeches from representatives of FAMU’s colleges and schools, workshop attendees were given tours of the Nursing Simulation Center, The Villages dormitories, University Dining, and the Hansel Tookes Recreation Center. Attendees later toured the FAMU/FSU College of Engineering, where they visited the engineering and robotics lab. There was also a roundtable and breakout sessions for freshman and transfer admissions.
Tashia Youmans, a guidance counselor from Oak Ridge High School in Orlando, was glad she returned to her alma mater.
“As a FAMU grad and a high school counselor I feel that this workshop reignited my excitement about encouraging and recommending FAMU to my students,” Youmans said. “After seeing and hearing more of what FAMU has to offer and the changes that have occurred over the years, I am extremely excited to see what I can do to encourage them to complete the applications thoroughly and test often to get the required scores for acceptance.”
At the end of the day’s events, Genyne H. Boston, Ph.D., associate provost for faculty affairs and academic initiatives & Deputy Athletic Director, expressed appreciation for the role advisers and counselors perform.
“They are the boots on the ground that make it happen for many high school students who may not know what FAMU does,” Boston said. “We appreciate them coming. Hopefully, they got a better sense of the FAMU experience.”