Jose Ramirez, Apalachee High School junior Thomas Ramirez, and Barbara Ramirez speak with University of Georgia admissions officials at the Colleges in Your Backyard Event on Jan. 14 in the Grand Hall of Tate Student Center. According to Barbara, this event encouraged the family to be more active in the college decision-making process. “We now have more information and we know about the different campuses for UNG and Piedmont and UGA, and I told him we’d come up and we’d just walk around the campuses and get more information that way, so I think it’s a good learning experience,” Barbara said. Photo by Valeria Garcia-Pozo
The Colleges in Your Backyard Event took place on Jan. 14 at the University of Georgia.
On Jan. 14, the University of Georgia’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions held its ninth annual Colleges in Your Backyard Event, which took place in the Grand Hall of Tate Student Center from 12 to 2 p.m.
The event consisted of representatives from UGA, the University of North Georgia (UNG), Athens Technical College, and Piedmont College engaging in a panel discussion and mini-college fair with students from Clarke County and its surrounding entities.
UGA Associate Director for Access and Inclusion Rosa Arroyo-Driggers has been facilitating the event for the past five years.
“It’s an effort to give back to our community, to connect different universities and different institutions of higher learning to our community, and just be more visible for our community,” Arroyo-Driggers said. “We’re letting admissions professionals really bring their own message about their school to the program, as opposed to answering specific questions.”
According to Arroyo-Driggers, the event, which was free and open to the public, was aimed at families of prospective college students to aid in college decision-making.
“Where you’re gonna go is a family decision, so it was really exciting for me to see families and siblings all here,” Arroyo-Driggers said. “We’ve had a lot more visibility with parents, so we’re able to answer real questions that parents have.”
Junior Thomas Ramirez, a student at Apalachee High School believes the event was helpful in guiding his decision and informing his family.
“I learned a lot about different colleges around me and where I think would be better to go,” Ramirez said.
Arroyo-Driggers believes one beneficial aspect of the event is the presentation of different options for students with diverse career aspirations.
“If I speak to a student who wants to go into cosmetology, well then I have learned that maybe UGA may not be the right school unless they wanna own their own business,” Arroyo-Driggers said. “If I meet a student who wants to go into nursing and wants a bachelor’s degree in nursing, you know, Piedmont College has a great program. If you wanna go into medicine, UGA has a great program.”
Athens Technical College admissions counselor Ashley Spears was pleased with the interactions she got to have with
the students in attendance.
“The students were very interactive, they came and talked with us, they had really great questions. Personally, I had probably about five students come up who were really interested in a very specific programs,” Spears said.
This year, over thirty students and their families came to the event.
“I would like to see more people show up. I’m happy with the numbers, but really it’s a chance for you to have a one-on-one time with all four institutions in a very small, intimate setting,” Arroyo-Driggers said.
