“After talking to my friends on the campuses of University of Texas at Austin and A&M, we concluded that our schools did not have minorities attending pre-orientation programs.”

—Darron Turner
director of intercultural education and services

Area high school minorities learn about university life

By LaNasha Houze
Staff Reporter

Student Development Services sponsored the 6th annual Minority High School Conference Thursday, in hopes of offsetting the lack of minority representation on college campuses, said Darron Turner, director of intercultural education and services.

More than 240 students from high schools throughout the Fort Worth area attended the event, which showed the transition a high school student makes into college life.

Turner said low minority attendance at college pre-orientation programs, such as Monday at TCU, reflected the lack of information minority students have about higher education opportunities.

“We noticed that Texas A&M held a high school conference in conjunction with (its) college leadership conference for minorities,” Turner said. “After talking to my friends on the campuses of University of Texas at Austin and A&M, we concluded that our schools did not have minorities attending pre-orientation programs.”

Photo by Tim Cox - Skiff Staff Christine Schmidt, a freshman speech pathology major, breaks a board held by Mustafa Zaveri, a sophomore radio-TV-film major, in Tae Kwon Do class Thursday afternoon.

Orientation programs are essential to inform students of the steps necessary to get into college and receive a scholarship, Turner said.

Manuel Rodriguez, co-director of the Minority High School Conference, said many of the conference participants would be first-generation college students. He said that when TCU students interact with high school students, it helps bridge the gap between high school and the university experience.

“A counselor could have graduated from college 20 to 30 years ago, but TCU students are experiencing college right now,” Rodriguez said. “Plus the students feel more comfortable in asking questions. They can be upfront and honest.”

Angela Watson, co-director of the Minority High School conference said the goal of the conference was not only to educate students, but also to establish relationships.

“Just like TCU students have connections on campus with people like our professors, (high school students) need connections, too,” said Watson, a junior sociology and criminal justice major.

TCU students led workshops and exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses with the participants so they could maintain contact with each other after the conference.

Sarah Board, a sophomore Spanish major, attended the conference during her senior year at North Side Senior High School.

She said the conference helped her learn about different majors and dispel some myths about TCU.

“I learned that professors do care about the students and that I need to get involved on the college campus,” Board said.

Board said the TCU community initially did not do a good job of reaching out to minority students, but she said this conference helped change things.

“A lot of my friends did not apply to TCU because they thought they couldn’t afford it,” Board said. “The conference helps to get rid of that stereotype. You can get the money to go here. You just need to apply.”

Two years ago TCU initiated the Community Scholars Scholarship to recruit more minority students from Fort Worth. Through the conference, applicants for the scholarship doubled from 30 to 70.

SDS does not keep track of the percentage of previous conference participants who now attend college.

LaNasha Houze
l.d.houze@student.tcu.edu