Last evening, I (wo)manned the University of Wisconsin booth at the 15th Annual Archdiocese of New Orleans College Fair. Over the course of three hours, I talked with hundreds of area high-school students interested in a higher education. There were three types of takers – those who will never leave Louisiana, ones that want to get the heck out of Dodge and the undecided. I didn’t realize my own marketing powers until I talked to that third party of unsure college-goers. Apparently, I have it in me to sell a 28,500-undergrad-strong institution of higher learning that could practically be in Canada to a lot of these self-described “coon-asses.” Some funny quotes of the night:
- “I’d never send my baby that far away from me!”
- “Fly, little bird, fly north!”
- “But, Wisconsin is so far away!”
- “I’m a coon-ass. I love Louisiana and will never leave here.”
- “I want to get as far away from this place as possible.”
- “Wisconsin? Isn’t that where cheese comes from?”
Yes, the American cheese fountain emanates from a little hole in the ground in Sheboygan and is owned by a man named Sven Wonka. (No, I didn’t say that to the students.)
During this stint, I learned a lot more about my own graduate alma mater. Aside from its sheer beauty – “933 rolling, wooded, shore-lined acres [that] sits between two lakes-Mendota and Monona” – did you know that Wisconsin is 56% women, tied with Harvard for producing the most number of CEOs and the place where Vitamins A and B were discovered, in 1913 and 1916 respectively? And, 60 percent of Wisconsin undergraduates receive financial assistance. I love this school.
Back to the college fair: I was highly impressed with the academic quality of the students who approached my table. The event tuned me into the fact that some highly-capable students come out of the New Orleans metro area, even if they attend some of the best private schools here, i.e. moneyed Catholic ones. Three students stood out in particular and I will heartily recommend them for admission: One wants to be a biomedical engineering & theatre double-major (she attends Mt. Carmel in the morning and NOCCA in the evening), another is a sophomore in high school who wants to study marketing and was impressed by my table above all others, while the last is a bright young lady with astrophysical aspirations. Otherwise, pre-pharmacy is popular among the guys, nursing among the girls and chemical engineering with both.
Particularly amusing was being referred to as “Ma’am” by humans born in ’89 and ’90. Duuuuuude, I was 14-15 when you were born; what’s wrong with “Miss?” Indeed, half of them may dress like the love child of Britney Spears and a gutter punk, but they had impeccable manners. That’s the Catholic South for you.
I believe I’m inspired enough to be a student mentor again. Which, incidentally, is a hard thing to do here with educational parties hell-bent on messing with a good thing.
