Nearly 2,000 expected for Monday open house
Some 1,895 people, mostly high school seniors and their family members, are registered for the University of Maine’s Monday, Aug. 22 Summer Tour 2011 open house event.
Modeled after a similar open house last August, Summer Tour 2011 represents a fresh approach to the traditional open house. Prospective students and their families will have ample opportunity to learn about UMaine academic programs and other elements of the UMaine student experience, but their time on campus will be enhanced by a festival atmosphere including a lunchtime cookout and a performance by Atlantic Clarion, the popular steel drum band from Brooksville.
The event is scheduled for the UMaine Mall from 9 a.m.-2 p.m., with the New Balance Student Recreation and Fitness Center set as a rainy-weather alternative location for most of the programming. Rain would move the cookout to the UMaine Field House.
The “Summer Tour” format has drawn a sharp increase in prospective student interest. Two years ago, 535 people attended UMaine’s traditional August open house. Summer Tour 2010 drew approximately 1,500 people to the UMaine campus, and Summer Tour 2011 should bring even more.
As of early August, 42 percent of the pre-registered students were from states other than Maine.
“We are encouraged by this widespread student interest in the UMaine student experience as we begin the new academic year’s recruitment and admissions cycle,” says Susan Hunter, UMaine’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “We look forward to welcoming our guests on Monday, and to demonstrating UMaine’s uniqueness, quality and value.”
In addition to the barbecue and live music, students and their families will have opportunities to learn more about admissions and financial aid, to take campus tours, to explore academic programs, to speak with current UMaine students and to meet their potential future UMaine classmates.
Aug. 18, 2011
Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571
joe.carr@umit.maine.edu