Over 100 students ranging from elementary to high school from the Denver metro area gathered on campus last Friday to participate in “DU Something Now,” an event to motivate young students to work hard in school.
Hosted by DU’s Greek Council and Greek honor society Order of Omega, which coordinated with Teach for America, the event was designed to show underprivileged students college is a possibility in their future. Students were informed of the event by their school teachers who are Teach for America participants.
“We are hoping that by bringing them here, showing them around DU and talking to them about college life, we can show them that not only is college a very real possibility for them, it is also something worth achieving,” said senior philanthropy chair for Order of Omega Richelle Moulin, a marketing major from Worcester, Massachusetts.
Students arrived at 4 p.m. at Sturm Hall to listen to a series of lectures about education inequality by student leaders as well as one DU sociology professor, Tracy Durant.
“Unfortunately, higher education in this country is significantly more difficult for some to attain than others,” said Moulin. “Gaps and inequalities in educational opportunities are not the fault of the students, and yet they are ultimately the ones to suffer.”
Following the info session, Greek student volunteers led the students on campus tours to highlight notable campus buildings as well as important aspects of college life, according to Moulin.
Afterwards, students were led to Driscoll Green for a tailgate featuring food from the DU Grilling Society and entertainment by DU’s cheerleaders. The evening came to a close with a free viewing for participants of the men’s soccer game at 7:30 p.m.
According to senior Vice President of Scholarship and Education and business major Kelsey Garrett from Franktown, Colorado, the evening was funded by the Executive Greek Council and cost approximately $5,000.
“It is a proven fact that when students visit a college campus they are significantly more likely to actually attend college,” said Moulin.
According to Moulin, Kristy Martin, a representative for Teach for America originally contacted the Greek Council through Garrett around May of last year. Garrett then contacted Vice President of Philanthropy Gage Crispe and Moulin to get the ball rolling.
“Teach for America is already very involved with Denver’s low-income youth and is always striving to create new ways to better the students’ educational opportunities,” said Moulin. “Greek Council and Order of Omega represent a wide variety of Greek members, which as a whole constitute around 20 percent of the DU undergraduate student body. Greek life is always looking for new ways to give back to the Denver community. We were more than thrilled to participate.”
For Garrett, DU Something Now was more than just a philanthropy event. It was about providing the information students need.
“With such a strong force as DU Greek Life we can really make a difference,” said Garrett. “We want [the kids] to know about scholarships and grants and different ways they can make college a possibility.”
According to Garrett, the event was not meant to promote DU specifically, but rather the idea of higher education in general.
“A lot of these students have never even thought about going to college and most have never been on a college campus,” said Garrett. “Letting them see a college environment and interact with college students will inspire them to strive to go to college.”
According to Moulin, the Greek community is proud to be a part of such a special event.
“Although we all come from different chapters and different backgrounds, we all recognize how fortunate we are to be going to such a prestigious school,” said Moulin. “So we all thought this was a great way to come together as a Greek community and give back to the young people of Denver that may not have the same opportunities that we did growing up.”
