The first taste of college

When beginning college, many students wish they'd had a bit more preparation.

Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) held an event for just that purpose.

Approximately 125 local high school students were given the chance to gain an understanding of college life from the experiences of fifteen student volunteers during Day in the Life, held Thursday, Oct. 4.

Three classes, taught by members and affiliates of SIFE, were offered: leadership training, financial planning and a question and answer session. Each class aimed to provide insight into the lives of college students.

While the classes differed in content, they largely centered around teamwork and personal responsibility.

Gerardo Sanchez, vice president of SIFE, served as the event's organizer. Sanchez taught the importance of working within a group during the leadership class. Topics discussed included strong communication skills as well as personal motivation.

It ended with a "balloon juggle" game, where the students were each given a balloon and instructions to not let it hit the floor but to keep batting it in the air. While easy at first, more and more balloons were introduced, illustrating that working together was the only way to accomplish the goal.

Jason Peters, volunteer from Wells Fargo Financial and member of SIFE's Business Advisory Board, taught the financial class. He spoke of the importance of fiscal responsibility including the dangers of debt, credit card management, and the importance of paying bills on time. While this might not strike some as directly pertaining to college, Sanchez wanted to include this class due to the age of the audience.

"Entering college is the time when most young people start getting a lot of credit card offers, and we want to teach them how to deal with that," Sanchez said.

Perhaps most entertaining was the "Ask Me" portion, where students were encouraged to ask a panel of five SIFE members questions about college life. The questions ranged from obtaining scholarships to the types of jobs offered by the university. As the session went on many of the questions pertained to the party scene at UMKC. But panelists did a good job keeping the snickers to a minimum and the topics on task.

"How much you party depends entirely on you. If you can stay out late and still wake up to be at class on time, then go for it. You'll figure out what works for you," said panelist Tara Nigh, bringing the focus back to personal responsibility.

"This is all information that we would have wanted to know going into college," Sanchez said. "It's not about recruiting for UMKC, it's about getting people who might not be thinking about continuing their education, to understand that college is an option."

And it seems to be working.

William Casselle of Raytown High School said while he might not attend UMKC, he enjoyed the event and will "definitely continue on with college."

Five high schools sent students, bringing the turnout up from last year's 80 students. The two attendees from last year, Raytown and Grandview, were joined by three new schools from the Kansas City Missouri school district: Van Horn, North East and South East High Schools.

jlc8f4@umkc.edu