Students’ work to create a diverse campus pays off with an increase in Hispanic enrollment and a stronger sense of pride and community.
It is common practice at many institutions for current students to phone prospective students who have been accepted but are not yet attending that school. During these calls, students engage in meaningful conversations about the college, academic programs, social environments, living arrangements and campus culture, alleviating fears and sharing their love for the college. The hope with these calls is that they will be the last push accepted students need in their decision to attend a specific college or university, as opposed to another institution. It can be particularly challenging when trying to encourage students of color to attend a college that may have less diversity than they are used to in a high school setting and/or are expecting in their college choice.
Last year, in an effort to encourage more students of color to attend Wentworth Institute of Technology and to quell some specific concerns of this student population, the admissions office at Wentworth presented an opportunity to one of the cultural clubs on campus to assist in its recruitment efforts — calling prospective students that belong to their affinity group. The Wentworth chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) answered the charge and began calling Hispanic and students who had been accepted.
Needs and concerns are different for each person, but it often helps the accepted student to talk to someone with a similar background. Students who can empathize and offer strategies for support are a welcome voice for a student determining which school to attend. When a student is thinking ‘there didn’t seem to be a lot of people who looked like me on the tour,’ it can be difficult for them to want to choose that school. Knowing that there is someone on campus who cares about their success can certainly be important.
Wanting to share their experiences, the members of the organization enthusiastically volunteered to call accepted Hispanic students and engage in honest conversations. Many current students felt honored that they could be part of the recruiting process and were excited about the number of Hispanic students who had been accepted. The group divided up the list of accepted students and phoned those who lived nearest to their hometowns. During these calls, a student might extol the virtues of our co-op program and then talk about the difficulty he or she sometimes may face being the only Hispanic in a class, as well as coping strategies and campus resources. They wanted to share what it was like to be at Wentworth and wanted to encourage other Hispanic students to become a part of the Wentworth community and allay any concerns about attending Wentworth.
Many incoming Hispanic students know there are not a lot of people who share their identity on campus and this creates a bevy of concerns when determining if Wentworth is the right school for them. The opportunity to talk to current Hispanic students aids the prospective students in the decision-making process. In addition, it encourages the growth of our Hispanic student population so that, ideally, being part of a small and growing group of students will not be a concern for future students.
