Record number of high schoolers attend annual Preview Mizzou

story and photo by Matt Eisenbath, posted Oct. 11, 2011

The College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources held its annual Preview Mizzou Oct. 3 at Memorial Union. The event is a chance for high school students to tour Mizzou, visit with CAFNR faculty and staff, and learn about what the school has to offer. Students are offered a tour of the campus and are able to use the dining halls for lunch to experience college life. Students break up into small groups to learn more about the degree programs in CAFNR.

Melissa Daniels, a CAFNR staff member who helped organize Preview Mizzou, said the event went smoothly this year. According to Daniels, more than 600 students were registered and more than 500 were actually in attendance for Preview Mizzou representing 52 high schools.

CAFNR students welcomed more than 500 Missouri high school students to campus Oct. 3 for Preview Mizzou.

“Preview Mizzou was extremely successful with our largest attendance we have ever had,” Daniels said.

One of the unique characteristics of Preview Mizzou as a recruitment event is that most of the event is run by CAFNR students. An MU ice sculpture that was set out by a food table was made by the hospitality management students. Tours and registration were handled by CAFNR students of a large variety of majors and affiliations.

The focus of Preview Mizzou is always on the prospective students. They are all cared for by faculty, staff and students and are personally directed to their dining halls. Britney Williams, a high school junior from Troy, enjoyed her time at Mizzou.

“Everyone was very helpful and I got to see everything I wanted to at Mizzou,” Williams said.

For some high school students, this is their first experience at Mizzou or maybe any college at all, so CAFNR works hard to make their experience enjoyable. The students had many questions about the university and college in general.

“I think it’s a good opportunity for the incoming students to find out more about colleges before and after they apply,” said Michael Schieffer, MU student and CAFNR Ambassador.

Everyone pitched in and helped to guide Preview Mizzou to a success. Daniels expects the same kind of effort and collaboration next year.

“It really was a whole college production for CAFNR, and we couldn’t have done it with everyone’s help,” Daniels said.          

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