Arts major Larry Totter studies his books while perusing through the website of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Totter intends to enroll in the pathway program at Parkland College, which will insure him a smooth transition to the school of magic.
Humna Sharif
Staff Writer
With seven enchanting books, personable characters, a beautifully crafted story and epithets about life sprinkled here and there, Harry Potter is amongst the most beloved magical series of all times. Many have eagerly awaited their eleventh birthday and looked inside their mailbox in hopes of finding a letter from Hogwarts. Alas! No owl posts ever came asking any of the Potter fans to join the magical world that has so often occupied the minds of children and adults alike.
However, Parkland College has found a way to make the magic real for its students. Amelia Bones from the Ministry of Magic recently contacted College President, Dr. Tom Ramage to discuss the possibility of creating a new pathway program at Parkland that would allow students to transfer to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that was recently set up at the Islands of Adventure in Florida.
“We’ll have students come in from Parkland who want to major in Arithmancy, Potion Making, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy,” Anthony Goldstein said, a Ministry of Magic Representative and Transfer Liaison for Parkland. “We will also be recruiting members of Parkland sports teams to form our new Quidditch teams.”
According to Parkland officials, the five new transfer majors that Hogwarts is offering to Parkland students are ideal for those who have the aptitude to major in Mathematics, Chemistry, Plant Sciences, Animal Sciences and Astrophysics.
“Our program provides the perfect platform for those students who felt like they never fit into any particular major,” Professor Violette Icarus, Deputy Headmistress at Hogwarts said. “We are all working hard here at Hogwarts to make the magic real for all our prospective students.”
New students will be treated to the traditional Hogwarts welcome; a scarlet train will take students to the Hogsmeade Village, where they will be greeted by a half giant. Then the students will take a boat ride up to the Hogwarts Castle. Professor Icarus will then take them to the great hall where the sorting hat will place them in their respective houses.
“We expect a large number of students to want to be a part of this program, for this reason we have decided to set some high enrollment criteria,” the Hogwarts Headmaster Professor Aberforth Percival said.
Only those students who have a GPA of 3.8 or higher will be allowed to apply for this program. All students will be required to provide five letters of recommendation and must be in good academic standing with Parkland.
The school castle has space for only one thousand students in total, which would make it very competitive to secure a place in this new program.
Students will also have to pass the Working Knowledge of the Wizarding World (WKWW) test before they are allowed to proceed to magical classes. The purpose of this test is to allow only die hard Harry Potter fans to be a part of this magical realm. Anything less than a perfect score on the WKWW could cost students their position in the program.
“Coming to Hogwarts will be a privilege and an honor, we want all out students to know they were chosen because they were loyal to Harry until the very last page,” Bones commented. “In the muggle world MIT is notoriously famous for sending out rejection letters, well we are worse than that, anything less than excellent just won’t do.”
In order to meet all the requirements for Hogwarts, new courses are also being introduced at Parkland, and spots in these classes are limited. Preparatory lessons for the WKWW will be given in the college atrium and reading sessions will be held by the library.
Students hoping to transfer to Hogwarts are encouraged to set up an appointment with one of the new magical advisors at Parkland as soon as possible. For more information about the new pathway program Anthony Goldstein may be contacted at gold_anth.pathway@howarts.magic. All the details about the new Hogwarts Pathway Program will also appear in Parkland’s course catalogue for fall 2015.
