Each spring as part of outreach and recruitment efforts, the UW hosts a Saturday morning campus event for newly admitted ethnic minority students and their parents. Shaping Your Future ¹ is held in the Husky Union Building (HUB), beginning with a keynote speaker and continuing with sessions on college student life and support services available at the UW. A variety of sessions are offered. These include panels of current UW students who share their perceptions of college life and interact informally with those in attendance, and special interest discussion groups on topics such as selection of majors and UW support programs like the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and the Instructional Center (IC).

FINDINGS

Shaping Your Future 2001

Evaluation of the 2001 Shaping Your Future was carried out in a manner similar to that of the previous year. Students and parents attending were asked to complete a short questionnaire regarding their perceptions of the event and suggestions for future improvements. Results were overwhelmingly positive on the part of both students and parents. No sessions had average ratings below satisfactory and open-ended questions yielded similarly positive results.

Shaping Your Future 2000

At the conclusion of Shaping Your Future 2000, students were asked to complete a one-page questionnaire regarding their perception of the event to provide feedback for program improvement in Spring 2001. Students were asked to rate the overall event, the keynote speaker and the individual sessions. Open-ended questions allowed students to give further details about their perceptions of the best part of the event and add their own suggestions for improvement. Shaping Your Future 2000 was overwhelmingly rated as a positive experience, and University of Washington student panels were given the highest ratings and most positive comments of all the individual sessions. Suggestions for improvement included the addition of time to interact with other participants and with UW students, and careful selection of the keynote speaker with attention to the details of the presentation.