PULLMAN, Wash. – Employee, student and community volunteers are needed to present to prospective students as part of the Washington State University Imagine U program.
Imagine U @ College! focuses on student recruitment in communities with high minority populations or low WSU enrollment.
“The goal is to bring a college visit to schools across the state of Washington that have underserved populations,” said Samantha Hege, program coordinator.
Imagine U is more comprehensive than other recruitment, Hege said. The programs are a full day, with academic presentations in the morning and admissions, financial aid and other information sessions in the afternoon.
Morning is when volunteers are needed, she said. Those presentations are designed to perk the interest of prospective students and encourage them to apply for higher education. The program is especially looking for faculty to come in and show off the high quality of professors at WSU and how interesting learning at college can be.
“The academic sections are to show the wide range of opportunities that you can find at college,” she said.
About 100 volunteers are needed this fall, when Imagine U is presenting at four schools: Garfield High School in Seattle, Rodgers High School in Spokane, Wenatchee High School and Quincy High School.
Garfield, Rodgers and Wenatchee presentations will be on Monday, Nov. 19, and Quincy on Tuesday, Nov. 20. In particular, volunteers still are needed for Garfield in Seattle on Nov. 19.
The presentations are during Thanksgiving break so professors and students do not have to arrange to miss or skip classes.
“High schools are still in session and WSU is not, so it’s a perfect little overlap time where we can fit stuff in,” Hege said.
While presenters cannot be paid for their time, they will be compensated for lodging, travel and food, Hege said. Interested faculty, staff, students and local community members can submit a presentation proposal online at http://imagineu.wsu.edu. Hege will contact the presenters about approval and then work with them for travel and lodging arrangements.
Presenters are not limited to the Pullman campus, she said. She is looking for any WSU faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members. Anyone who has been positively affected by higher education is welcome to submit a presentation proposal.
While WSU’s logo is all over the program materials, Imagine U is encouraging students to apply to any type of higher education.
Imagine U is funded by a College Access Challenge grant from the U.S. Department of Education.