Racers take the wheel with enrollment effort

Miranda Carpenter
Contributing Writer
mcarpenter4@murraystate.edu

As the University combats enrollment declines, select faculty, staff and students are taking matters into their own hands to improve the situation.

The Road Scholars program was reinstated earlier this fall to reach out to high school students who otherwise might be unfamiliar with Murray State. The program is designed to bring Murray State faculty and staff to schools across the state and increase 2019 enrollment by 125 students.

“One of the central goals of the program is to develop or further an existing partnership with many high schools, with the goal of sharing the Murray State story for prospective students who are considering their college options,” Don Robertson, Vice President for Student Affairs, said.

The Road Scholars program is free for high school students to participate in. High-schoolers that participate in the program will also be eligible for a $500 scholarship. Two students per high school will be eligible for these scholarships.

This year, faculty, staff and students in the program hope to reach out to numerous regions through a new model.

“Year one will focus on all high schools in the westernmost 26 counties; our 18-county primary service region plus Daviess, Muhlenberg, McLean, Ohio and Jefferson/Oldham,” according to information presented at the Board of Regents annual retreat on Aug. 30.

The future goal is to implement the program in different regions in Tennessee, southern Illinois, southern Indiana and expand to more counties within Kentucky.

“It [Road Scholars] gets us in front of high schools, not just in our limited region,” Interim President Bob Jackson said. “But I want to see this all the way to Louisville, and even multi-state ultimately.”

The program will have a strategically-chosen team of Murray State University faculty/staff including targeted alumni. Each team will be assigned to a high school and will make at least one visit per high school per academic year.

“When we launched it [Road Scholars] about a month ago… a hundred faculty, staff, and administrators showed up,” Jackson said during an interview on Sept. 11. “Today, I think there is about 170 that are now engaged which is a real testament to our faculty, staff and administrators here – that they care about what we’re doing.”

Along with school visits the program will include a Murray State Information Fair for students, parents and teachers.

The program will also include a “bus in” where Murray State will reimburse $1.40 per mile for high schools to send their students to Murray for a campus visit.

All of the high school visits are projected to be finished by Dec. 1, 2018.

Jackson also said that there are several opportunities for students to get involved in the program.

“Our best recruiters are you all [students],” Jackson said.

Any Murray State students or alumni who wish to help with the Road Scholars program can contact program coordinator, Julie Boyken at jboyken@murraystate.edu.

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