Grant 'Goes' To SHSU For Traveling Technological Station
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Sam Houston State will soon be taking its recruiting efforts
on the “go” thanks to a $127,000 grant from the
Texas Pioneer Foundation.
The one-time grant has allowed the Enrollment Management Division
to purchase a 42-foot trailer with a gooseneck-style hitch
and Ford F350 crewcab diesel dually truck to create SHSU’s
version of the Mobile GO Center, a university-sponsored technological
station that gives high-school aged students Internet access
to apply for admission and financial aid.
Beginning in September, SHSU’s unit will travel across
the state for approximately 30 weeks to recruit in areas with
low college attendance, according to Susie Houston, enrollment
management specialist who is in charge of the program.
The trailer, which is currently being built by Magnum Trailers
in Austin, will have as many as 21 computer terminals and
will be equipped with a generator and a satellite to give
the computers Internet access.
“Many low-income students do not have access to technology,”
Houston said. “We will be able to help them with the
first step of researching colleges as well as helping them
fill out the admission application and financial aid online.
“For the first year, we will target at-risk population
groups and their families that have low college-track enrollment
rates,” Houston said.
Because many prospects in these areas will be first generation
college students, a full-time staff member and Houston, as
well as alumni and SHSU student volunteers, will be available
to assist the high-school students and answer questions about
the application and financial aid processes.
They will also talk with students’ families about the
process and help them through the “scary process”
of applying for financial aid with Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA) training workshops.
“The state of Texas has initiated the ‘Closing
the Gaps’ program and wants the state to reach a specific
number by 2010 and another goal by 2015,” Houston said.
“This is the goal we’re working on, primarily
to get them to go to college.
“If they want to come to Sam, we want to make sure that
we’re available and that they know what Sam Houston
is all about, but the trailer itself is to promote higher
education,” she said.
The trailer will travel to events such as county fairs, high
school football games, music festivals, livestock shows and
other community activities where a younger audience can also
be reached in order to instill the importance of higher education.
“A better education means a better life,” Houston
said. “We’re hoping we can reach a lot of those
types of kids that are in rural areas and think that when
they graduate high school, that’s their ultimate goal.
“We’ll bring them on and show them different types
of job situations and the difference you can make between
a college and high school education,” she said.
Several other colleges and universities in Texas have also
received funding for the Mobile GO Centers, but currently
SHSU’s trailer is the largest one.
To differentiate SHSU’s unit from other Mobile GO Centers,
Enrollment Management is hosting a “sweet” contest
to name the trailer something “new and interesting,
unique and catchy to represent SHSU,” according to Houston.
Idea entries should be submitted by e-mail to shouston@shsu.edu.
The submission deadline is June 20 and the winner will be
announced by Aug. 1.
The person whose title is chosen will receive several gift
certificates for half gallons of Blue Bell ice cream.
A “grand opening” for the unit is being planned
for late August to include key representatives from the Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Texas Pioneer Foundation
and SHSU personnel.
For more information on the unit or scheduling the unit to
come to a specific area, contact Houston at 936.294.1063 or
shouston@shsu.edu.
—END—
SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer
Gauntt
June 15, 2007
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu.
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