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Hosting visiting students helps UI
recruitment
by Lauren Cower
argonaut staff
A long-standing tradition at the University
of Idaho is student hosting, when a residence hall student takes
in a high school junior or senior for a night or two.
Most students hosted at the University of Idaho are seniors about
the age of 18. However, some students hosted are juniors and
are underage.
UI sophomore Jamie Garlinghouse coordinates the student hosting
program. Overall the hosting program at UI has been very effective,
and most guests wind up hosting students themselves if they return
as students, Garlinghouse said. The retention rate of the hosted
students is fairly good.
UI did not always have the hosting program. In the past, if a
student wanted to stay at UI, he or she would have to give at
least two-weeks notice prior to arrival.
This proved to be quite an inconvenience for people so the hosting
program did not work out well, Garlinghouse says.
Now students have to give notice one week prior to arrival if
they would like to stay with a host. Garlinghouse said she feels
that is a major improvement. Some larger universities do not
have hosting programs for their residence halls.
Although the residence hall hosting program gets a lot of students
spread out over the year and not very many in winter, there is
a certain day that is flooded with high school students - Vandal
Friday.
Vandal Friday is another tradition just like hosting. It brings
in prospective students, many of whom need a place to stay.
That is what student hosting is for. This Vandal Friday is promising
to bring in about 500 students for hosting.
Students also come from far away for the Vandal Friday weekend.
One student rode a bus from Texas.
That is not where his journey originally began. He came from
Brazil.
Even though the hosting program does its best to pair up students
with similar interests, sometimes it doesn't always work out.
Usually when it doesn't work out it is because of a conflict
in personality.
Students who come for hosting sometimes can choose where they
stay in the residence halls. Some students may want to stay in
a theme hall.
All the halls host students except for Scholars Residence, which
will begin hosting next year.
Sean Shelley has hosted approximately 15 students over the years.
Shelley says the reason he hosts isn't the $5 that you get on
your Vandal card but because it is nice to meet and show a potential
student around.
He says that a lot of the people he has hosted were really nice
and had similar interests, so it was fun talking to them.
However, Shelley did say that sometimes the people he hosted
would just drop off their stuff and leave.
"The hosting program is an effective recruitment tool for
prospective students because they get to experience campus life
firsthand at the University of Idaho," Garlinghouse said.
university of idaho argonaut
editor in chief david browning
301 student union. moscow, id 83844
ph# 885.7845 argonaut
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