While some colleges set up one table, Wayne State brought representatives from eight areas of the university — including professors and deans — to the Jewish Life on Campus College Fair on Feb. 9.
Planned and created by representatives from local Jewish organizations and synagogues with a grant from the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit’s Stephen H. Schulman Millennium Fund, this was the first time in nearly 20 years such an event has taken place at the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit. And Wayne State was ready. Experts from the following areas were on hand to share information with high school students:
• Office of Undergraduate Admissions
• Irvin D. Reid Honors College
• Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies
• Dean of Students Office, including the Jewish Student Organization
• Housing and Residential Life
• Hillel of Metro Detroit
• School of Business Administration
• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ Modern Hebrew Language, Literature and Israeli Culture program
“Students and their parents have a lot of good questions for us,” said Nick Doyle, admission counselor for southern Oakland County, which includes West Bloomfield’s Frankel Jewish Academy, housed in the same sprawling facility where the college fair took place. “What’s special about today is that when people ask about the Honors College, I’ve got Dean Jerry Herron standing to my left. When they’re wondering about our Jewish studies programs, I’ve got Cohn-Haddow Director Howard Lupovitch to my right. And when they want to know about campus life, they can talk directly to Dean of Students David Strauss.”
In fact, Strauss was cheerfully greeting families as they made their way down the long row of green tables filled with WSU brochures and kosher cookies baked in the Gold ’n’ Greens dining hall. “This is an ideal opportunity for us to present many facets of Wayne State University to an extremely engaged audience,” Strauss said. “A lot of people have already heard we’ve got kosher dining on campus; that attracts them to us. Then we can fill them in on Hillel and the Jewish student organizations they can join to make the most of their college experience.”
Several Wayne State students were at the event to offer firsthand confirmation that getting involved is key, including freshman Seth Blazofsky, who represented WSU on the college student panel, “What Is It Really Like on Campus?”
A parent in the audience asked, “Is the social life vibrant enough to stay on campus or do students tend to go home for weekends?” Blazofsky, who lives in Atchison Hall, answered, “Hillel makes sure there’s something to do every weekend, and the residence halls do too. Between game night in the dorm and Greek parties or community service activities, there is never a shortage of options — you just need to be on the lookout for opportunities.”
That was a common theme of the day. Back at the Wayne State tables, Herron talked to a potential Honors College student about degree options and career paths. His face lit up when the student said she was interested in music and writing. “Whatever program you choose will be amplified by Detroit’s cultural venues,” Herron said. “The DSO, the DIA — you’ll be surrounded by art at Wayne State.”