Marion City Schools 4th graders tour the Marion Campus library.
Marion City Schools’ entire fourth grade toured the Marion Campus this week as campus officials expressed hope to expand the tour in the future. Fourth graders from the district’s six elementary schools recently toured The Ohio State University at Marion and Marion Technical College.
The tour included stops in Maynard Hall, Morrill Hall, the Alber Student Center, the main MTC building, MTC’s health technologies building, and the shared campus library.
Leah Fillater, Marion City Schools’ director of curriculum, said more than 350 fourth graders toured the campus during the day. It was the first time on campus for nearly all of them.
Filliater referred to the GoBUCKs program, which awards Marion City Schools students who succeed academically and meet other milestones with vouchers that can later be exchanged towards tuition at Ohio State at Marion.
“We really wanted students to see what those vouchers turn into – firsthand! We also wanted to plant the seed that everyone can go to college, and it is never too early to begin thinking about it,” she said. “Allowing students to walk on the campus, tour some of the buildings, and build that excitement of what college is like is a great door to open for students. It seems crazy that a college campus that sits right here in our town is often a new experience for so many students and their families.”
“It was great to hear and see their excitement over small things – the bell tower, the pond and the bridge and the spiral staircase in Maynard Hall,” Filliater said. “I think our goal was certainly accomplished.”
Marion City Schools 4th graders look at a roller coaster model built by Ohio State at Marion engineering students while touring the Marion Campus.
Students saw a model of a roller coaster built by Ohio State at Marion engineering students and got to see and touch computerized mannequins used to teach MTC healthcare students.
“This is the kind of training you get on our campus,” MTC public relations director Nicole Workman told students. “You are so lucky because Marion Technical College and Ohio State are right in your backyard.”
Workman said she’s hopeful that the tour made it clear that students don’t have to wait until they are ready to head off to college to visit the campus. She said it’s important that students understand very early that grades do matter and that they will need an education beyond high school no matter what they end up doing.
“College isn’t an option anymore – it’s a necessity – and they can get started and even finish right here in Marion very inexpensively,” she said.
Dave Claborn, director of community relations and marketing for Ohio State at Marion, said he hopes that students got a feel for what college is. He said it’s also important to stress college considering the county’s percentage of students who earn their bachelor’s degree in college is about 12.4 percent, less than the state average.
“As this community transforms, we need to have a better educated population,” Claborn said.
Gary Iams, a development officer in Ohio State at Marion’s department of community relations and marketing, referred to the tour as an extension of the GoBUCKs program.
“Your mission is to get good grades. That’s the message kids need to hear,” he said as he talked about the educational and financial opportunities available. “If you do that, we will get you here.”
Iams said it’s necessary to start the conversation about college as early as possible considering there’s some career tracks, like engineering, that students can start preparing to enter as early as middle school.
Iams said campus officials hope to expand the fourth-grade tours to include county school districts next fall.
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