Florida A&M held Advising Day at Tallahassee Community College on Wednesday.
Representatives from various schools and colleges, as well as clubs and organizations, at FAMU provided admission information to prospective students.
According to FAMU’s website, 129 of the 301 students who transferred to the university in 2011 were from TCC.
Fran Scott, event organizer and FAMU academic adviser, said the university needs more recruitment events like this to boost the morale and retention of the university.
“We need more positive information to be talked about,” Scott said.
“It’s like we’re in a fight, getting beat up in a corner, but we aren’t throwing back punches. Events like this is what helps us fight back.”
The event started as a department initiative for the School of Allied Health Sciences, Scott said. When Student Affairs learned of the recruitment program’s success, it made efforts to improve available resources.
The Office of Retention has the “Rattler Room” to create a closer connection with TCC students.
Brenda Spencer, director of the Office of Retention, described the room as an “on-site office with representatives from FAMU on TCC’s campus for students to speak with advisers about the universities programs.”
Most students spoke with advisers to help them align the courses they have taken to correspond with their intended major at FAMU.
Daniel Osborne, a mathematics professor at FAMU, was among many educators in attendance. In recent years, Osborne said, FAMU has taken steps to have individual representatives from various departments take part in this event to ensure each department can share its own stories with the students to make sure they get the holistic picture of what FAMU has to offer them.
“These students can now come and see exactly what they have done at the community college level and how those courses will translate over to what is required to obtain their bachelor’s degree at FAMU,” Osborne said.