High school counselor and Latin@ student participants at Think Buckeye Day.

Photo by Giovana Covarrubias

Last fall, from Oct. 19 through Nov. 2, prospective students had the opportunity to visit The Ohio State University and experience some Buckeye hospitality. The name of the event was “Think Buckeye Day”; this was an initiative of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and First Year Experience (UAFYE) and was designed to attract very competitive students from across the United States to our campus.

For Jefferson Blackburn-Smith, Senior Associate Director in the UAFYE office, allowing students to visit our campus is one of the best ways to convince them that Ohio State is the best choice for them. “Visiting campus allows high school students to ‘see’ themselves as Buckeyes, and understand that they will be able to successfully navigate the nation’s largest university,” he said.

Think Buckeye Day provides students and their families with special opportunities to learn about academics and to meet faculty, staff and students who share their cultural interests and identity —making the impact of their visit that much stronger. Thanks to the efforts of the Office of Minority Affairs, another group of students was able to visit again this year. On Nov. 2, a group of Latin@ students from Arizona, New Mexico, and other Midwestern states had the opportunity to meet and be greeted by Ohio State’s Hispanic/Latin@ faculty, staff and students.

The ¿Qué Pasa, OSU? staff met seven National Hispanic Merit finalists from University High School in Tucson, Ariz., who shared with us some of their expectations and their concerns such as financial aid, the campus cultural climate and the weather. These students are some of the country’s top academically talented minority students… they are Buckeye material!

Ohio State’s efforts to recruit top students year after year will continue… hopefully several of our Think Buckeye Day guests from this year will be Buckeyes next fall.