On Saturday, Oct. 12, DU Greek Life and Teach for America co-sponsored the second annual DU Something Now, an event to bring middle school and high school students to campus to learn about higher education opportunities. The event included a student panel, campus tour, dinner, games and a DU men’s soccer game.
According to a 2012 Clarion article, the event started last year when Kristy Martin, a representative from Teach for America, met with Kelsey Garrett, vice president of scholarship and education for Greek Council, to coordinate an event with Greek Life. Together they came up with DU Something Now. Greek Life recruited volunteers and Martin reached out to local schools to invite students.
Shawna Taets, philanthropy chair for the Greek honor society Order of Omega, said for logistical reasons the organizers wanted to make the event smaller this year than it was last year. About 250 students attended the event last year, while only about 75 students attended this year. These students came from grades six through eleven, from five schools in Denver and Colorado Springs.
“This year, it was successful in a different way because there were more connections made with these students, but the large scale last year reached out to more students,” said Taets. “Next year, we hope to take all the benefits of this year and last year and increase the size again.”
Taets said having fewer students allowed them to have a closer student to volunteer ratio. There were 45 student volunteers interested in Teach for America from more than a dozen Greek houses. Taets said DU Something Now allows students from all different Greek houses to unite and support a common goal.
Volunteers came from six sororities (Delta Zeta, Alpha Phi, Gamma Phi Beta, Delta Gamma, Pi Lambda Chi and Delta Delta Delta) and seven fraternities (Sigma Chi, Kappa Sigma, Theta Chi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Lambda Chi Alpha, Zeta Beta Tau and Beta Theta Pi).
Taets added that the event was beneficial for both the students and the volunteers, because the students got to learn about higher education and the volunteers got to learn more about Teach for America and the kinds of students and teachers they could work with.
“I was surprised by how funny and energetic the students were when walking around campus,” said Jeffrey Olson, a fourth-year volunteer from Kappa Sigma. “I really believe that today helped them realize their dreams.”
Taets said there have been studies that show that bringing students to college campuses and having them talk to college students increases the chances they will go to college after high school.
“It was awesome to see the kids interact one-on-one with college students and get to see a college campus all at the same time,” said Alyse Nelson, a teacher from Carmel Middle School.
Taets added the event was less about advertising for DU than it was about advertising the idea of college in general.
“A lot of these students may come from a background where college isn’t necessarily an expectation, unlike many of the students who go to DU,” said Taets.
The student panel, held with four students from the undergraduate admissions office, focused on topics like what college is, what kinds of colleges there are, how you get to college, what you do when you get there, how you choose a major and how you get financial aid.
After the student panel and campus tour, students had pizza from Blackjack and played games on Carnegie Green. DU cheerleaders came to dinner and helped students make signs and learn cheers for the soccer game they attended later that evening. The Pioneers beat the Jaguars from Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) with a score of 4-0.
“It was interesting to see the dynamic between the high schoolers and the middle schoolers,” said Taets. “The high schoolers were more subdued and had more specific questions, while the middle schoolers were more excited about college in general because it’s a more distant dream for them.”
At the end of the day, Taets asked the students if they had learned anything new that day.
“I learned that challenging yourself is a good thing and you should always do it,” said one sixth grade student.
