This system’s aim is to encourage college students to think about school and introduce them to the alternatives at UGA
This spring break, present college students from throughout the College of Georgia got here collectively to kind the 2024 Highway Dawgs crew, dedicating their time without work to unfold Georgia Bulldog spirit all through the state.
Every year, the Highway Dawgs take a unique route round Georgia, concentrating on colleges with massive populations of underrepresented or rural college students. The aim of this system is to encourage college students to think about school and introduce them to the multitude of alternatives they’ll discover at UGA.
That is the eighth 12 months of Highway Dawgs and, whereas it does shorten the crew members’ spring breaks, all of them agreed that it was time effectively spent. This 12 months’s crew included two “veteran” Highway Dawgs, who have been joyful to share their time to satisfy with extra highschool college students.
The 2024 Highway Dawgs “Name the Dawgs” on stage at McLure Well being Sciences Excessive Faculty, hyping up the highschool college students earlier than passing out UGA T-shirts. (Photograph by Wes Mayer)
“A very large a part of why I joined once more is as a result of it was so candy interacting with the scholars final 12 months,” mentioned Yuna Lee, a third-year biology main and two-time Highway Dawg. “I had some college students say they weren’t contemplating going to school, however due to what we talked about, then they advised me they have been desirous to go. That have actually meant quite a bit.”
At every college, the crew ran on stage Calling the Dawgs or chanting “It’s Nice to Be a Georgia Bulldog.” The Highway Dawgs launched themselves, talked in regards to the causes they selected to attend UGA, and shared a few of their favourite experiences of being a school pupil. Then, they met with the highschool college students in small teams to be taught extra about them, reply their questions, and provides recommendation.
“I’ve at all times liked speaking to children to present recommendation and simply giving the spiel about school,” mentioned Grace Okpurukre, a second-year economics main. “I by no means had that have, and I needed to present again.”
Within the small teams, highschool college students have been keen to talk with the Highway Dawgs to find out about life at UGA, asking in regards to the residence halls, eating halls, courses, golf equipment, and the general tradition of Athens. The Highway Dawgs highlighted the numerous sources at UGA constructed for pupil success, and mentioned how essential it’s to make connections with professors throughout workplace hours and to achieve out to extra senior college students as mentors.
This 12 months, one of many Highway Dawgs, Kimberly Meraz-Fuentes, a first-year worldwide affairs main, was in a position to go to her personal highschool, Meadowcreek Excessive Faculty in Gwinnett. There, Meraz-Fuentes talked about how coming from a faculty with a big inhabitants of minorities taught her the significance of placing herself on the market and attempting out completely different golf equipment and teams at UGA to grow to be extra concerned.
Josh Williams, admissions officer with the Workplace of Undergraduate Admissions, shares his story as a first-generation school pupil with highschool college students in Gwinnett. Williams gave college students encouragement and recommendation about making use of to school. (Photograph by Wes Mayer)
“It’s an honor to be again,” Meraz-Fuentes mentioned. “Final time I used to be right here, I used to be a highschool pupil, however now I’m ready to be a mentor, and it’s fairly thrilling.”
Each pupil’s story is exclusive, however most of the Highway Dawgs share related experiences with the highschool college students they meet, which is why this program is so profitable. A testomony to that is that one in all this 12 months’s Highway Dawgs, Samrawit Solomon, a second-year journalism main with a minor in regulation, fondly remembers the Highway Dawgs visiting her personal college, Shiloh Excessive Faculty in Snellville.
“That was my first introduction to UGA,” Solomon mentioned. “I needed to be part of this program as a result of it’s why I bought right here.”
This was the primary 12 months that Jonah Bushell, assistant director of admissions for community-based organizations with the Workplace of Admissions, led this system. Bushell mentioned it was eye-opening studying about this system and the way rewarding it was to connect with colleges all through Georgia.
“You see how excited excessive colleges are when the flagship college reaches out about speaking to college students,” Bushell mentioned. “It’s stunning to see how open they’re to us coming to their campus, and it’s an ideal alternative to see UGA college students who wish to give again.”
