David Saveanu
Staff Writer
Parkland College will welcome those interested to explore different majors and experience the school in a relaxed environment on Oct. 27 from 12–3 p.m., with a public open house.
The open house, different from a regular campus visit day, is more interactive. Students have the freedom to walk around and talk to people at different tables. They can see presentations on different scholastic subjects and the different amenities Parkland offers, as well as tour the school.
Along with the main open house, there is a health professions open house going on at the same time.
The open house will also have representatives and information on fields of study often overlooked or hard to find information on, like veterinary tech, occupational therapy assistant, and massage therapy. If Parkland offers the major, there will be a table there representing it.
Mary Kay Smith, the student services advisor, is the primary organizer of the open house.
“A typical campus visit day is just a presentation…you go into a room, see a presentation, a power point, [then] walk out and we give you a tour and send you on your way,” Smith said. “[The open house is] much more fluid, you go from table to table and ask questions, you can go to presentations too but they don’t have to, [it is] much more independent, much more comfortable, gives them more choice.”
There will be three different seminars, or presentations, going on that students can attend. One on financial aid at Parkland, another on the Parkland Pathways program, and one on finding a career and exploring your options.
Smith said there are “hundreds of [high school] students” expected to come explore Parkland. The point of the open house is to familiarize interested individuals with the college in a “no stress type of way,” according to Smith.
Parkland’s open house happens yearly.
Another version of the open house happens in the spring, but it lacks the huge health profession aspect present in this one. This is because health professions tend to have specific deadlines, most starting in fall, so the open house gives students all the necessary information to make the decision before the deadline.
The open house, in past years, has had departments do many fun activities with potential students.
WPCD 88.7 FM will also be present, not only to inform potential students on the opportunities provided by Parkland in radio and broadcasting, but also to broadcast from the open house, talking about it and playing music.
Parkland is also excited to show off its Anatomage Table, which is a virtual medical imaging device that health professions students will be able to use, and the Augmented Reality Sandbox, which geology students will use to learn about geological processes and how they change the planet’s landscapes.
For more information, visit Parkland’s admissions office to talk to an admissions advisor, or contact Mary Kay Smith at mksmith@parkland.edu.
