Over the past two weekends, the University of Idaho has opened its doors to welcome our incoming freshmen and transfer students as they prepare for next fall. UIdaho Bound is an annual event put on for hundreds of students and their families meant to show them campus, help them register for classes and show them campus affiliated organizations.
“It does require a lot of man power,” said Elexus Moore, a member of Sigma Alpha sorority. “Obviously prospective students want to come and see what U of I has to offer and if we only show up with just a handful of clubs we’re not offering that much to those students.”
Moore said to her, UIdaho Bound isn’t just a job. She wants to be there both for her organization and for the prospective students.
“It’s the starting of a friendship,” Moore said. “When I went to UIdaho Bound I did meet a lot of these clubs and then when you did show up on campus you can say ‘I met you and now we’re friends’.”
The overall goal for organizations involved in UIdaho Bound is to get students involved with their organization, however for some this task isn’t as easy.
The climbing club displaying their bikes at the Activities Fair during UIdaho Bound Saturday.
Brianna Finnegan | Argonaut
Julien Arias and Colette Goemmer spent Saturday tabling for the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), something they claim is no easy feat.
“It’s nice to be seen, but sometimes there are people who cannot come see us because they’re with their parents,” Goemmer said.
Both Arias and Goemmer agreed they tend to get more people interested at events where parents do not attend such as Palousafest in the beginning of the year, however they appreciate being there for the students just so they know the GSA is on campus.
“I think being the group we are it’s almost a little bit polarizing for some people,” Arias said. “You’ll have parent who obviously don’t want their kids to come up here or there are parents who are on the reverse almost. Sometimes their kid doesn’t seem to want to come up but they’re a weird kind of supportive where they’ll say, ‘No you should come here’.”
UIdaho Bound also shows students who don’t quite know what they want to major in their options on campus. Members of the Apparel Textiles and Design Club came to UIdaho Bound not only promoting their club, but also their major.
“This is the first time our club is being represented,” said Madison Machen, one of the members of the Apparels Textiles and Design Club. “It’s definitely nice to see a lot of freshman coming in who are our major, because when I came, and I talked to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences they didn’t really know anything about this program.”
Morgan Bolden, another member of the Apparels Textiles and Design Club, said she almost went to California for school because she didn’t know that there were fashion majors in Idaho.
“People need to know that even a smaller school in some ways is beneficial,” Bolden said. “If I was studying in California, I’m not going to get as much hands-on experience. We have professors here who have literally worked with Nike and Adidas. So, I’m running over there to find it when it’s right here.”
The work put in by current students is not for nothing. Prospective students visiting UI during UIdaho Bound leave with a more enhanced view of campus and its offerings.
“I feel that it had an impact,” said Kaylee Flodian, a prospective apparels textiles and design student from Genesee Idaho, said. “I definitely didn’t know that there are all of these different clubs and I learned a lot more about my college too.”
Brianna Finnegan can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @BriannaFinnega8