Grade school students gather for UCF's College Prep Day

Saturday morning a crowd of 450 people gathered in front of the Student Union to participate in a series of informational sessions encouraging middle and high school students to pursue higher education.

Dressed in jeans, bright blue shirts, and winter hoodies, volunteers scurried from one side of campus to the other organizing the last-minute touches of the Multicultural Academic and Support Services College Prep Day event.

This year marks the fourth annual College Prep Day event where UCF students volunteered to be session breakout leaders, to sit on a student panel, and to distribute breakfast and lunch to the parents and students.

It was open for schools and community organizations to participate at no cost.

A full program was created for middle and high school students; it included information on admissions, tips for academic success, athletic tours, a financial aid session and optional campus tours.

Among the speakers were Cedric Brown, an assistant director of admissions, Kensington Shields-Dutton, a financial aid general counselor, and Jennifer Muscadin, an academic adviser with the PRIME STEM Project.

Services were also provided by UCF's Housing and Residence Life for tours in the Libra community and the athletics department provided tours of the Recreation and Wellness Center and the Bright House Networks Stadium.

"I was excited to see the dorms and how housing works here," said Alexa Campos, an eighth-grade student from Apopka Memorial Middle School. "I also wanted to see a college campus hands on. It was so much fun."

During the student panel question session, MASS Director Wayne Jackson gave insight on the college experience. The topic he spoke on the most was networking.

"It's not what you know or who you know, but who knows you," Jackson said. "You need to prioritize what's important."

One of the most important aspects of the event was the cooperation of the volunteers.

"I sat in during the community college session for high school students," said Jerry Karedan, a pre-clinical and health sciences major. "The presenter did a really good job explaining the facts the students needed to know."

MASS Associate Director Kristy Belden coordinated the event, she said the event was focused on organization and fitting the puzzle pieces in all the right places.

"The event turned out amazing," Belden said. "The logistics of the planning process was difficult but things turned out great."

Belden and other MASS representatives gathered 43 volunteers, collected donated and discounted food from four different vendors, and brought faculty and staff together to pull the event off.

Although a majority of the volunteers were students, there were faculty members from the MASS office and a campus bus driver who donated his time to the cause.

Willy Franklin has been a bus driver for the route to the Rosen College of Hospitality Management for three years. It was his second year volunteering.

"These are such an excellent group of children," Franklin said. "I always make sure I get this day off several months in advance just to help out."