CAMP brings UI to Southern Idaho
Many multicultural students from Southern Idaho can’t make the six-hour trip to the University of Idaho Moscow campus to attend events like Vandal Friday or Envision Idaho, and they miss out on an early glimpse of the college experience.
Fortunately, thanks to the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) the Vandal experience can be brought to prospective students’ doorsteps through Avanza!, a recruiting event geared specifically to multicultural students in the southern part of the state.
Monze Magana, assistant director of multicultural recruitment in the Office of Admissions, said she wished Avanza! had existed when she was being recruited to UI.
“It’s a great event, because we pretty much take the university down to the students,” Magana said. “So many of the multicultural students can’t come up to UI because of financial reasons or parents work or it’s just too far for them, so we bring it to them.”
Avanza! will take place Jan. 26-29 in Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, Nampa and Fruitland. All four events will start at 6 p.m. and cost is free, with the possibility of having the UI application fee waived if applicants apply at the event.
Avanza! focuses on talking to potential students and their parents about the importance of higher education. Magana said UI staff members attend the event to help guide students and parents through the application and FAFSA process.
“You not only recruit the students, but you recruit the parents,” Magana said. “That’s a lot of what Avanza! has to do, it’s parent oriented — letting them know that here’s all these opportunities UI has to offer. But then there is their one specific question, ‘How do I pay for it?'”
Victor Canales-Gamino, CAMP recruiter, said he helps to breakdown the cost of tuition for families who have questions about paying for school. With the cooperation of the Office of Admissions, Canales-Gamino said he can make the cost of tuition more reasonable for some families.
“We are a program funded by the Department of Education,” Canales-Gamino said. “We serve 35 students (in CAMP). We give them a scholarship, we support them academically and we also support them socially. We have a lot of cultural events that they can attend too … so that’s why we support them socially and culturally, so they don’t feel too homesick.”
The week before Avanza! begins, the Office of Admissions sends out multiple emails and postcards to high school students to encourage them to attend the event, along with confirmations if they have already registered for the event, he said.
Magana also said student ambassadors and current CAMP students also participate in “telecounseling,” where they call the houses of future students to make sure they are going through the application process swiftly.
“We’ll make their name tags so they feel like they are being welcomed and we do personalized folders for them,” Magana said. “The reason behind registration is so that we can make them feel like they are home, that we want them there.”
Kenia Ortega, a second-year UI student and CAMP member recalled her experience at Avanza! in her hometown of Fruitland and said it was a great experience.
“When we officially started, they gave us a brief schedule of what we would be talking about throughout the night,” Ortega said. “Jesse (Martinez) and Monze was there, and they gave us good information about the University of Idaho as a whole, but also went into subgroups of CAMP and different organizations you can join while you were at UI.”
Emily Mosset can be reached at [email protected]