Two popular events that brings middle school and high school students to Wayne State’s campus are returning in 2023.

Wayne State University’s Advanced Placement (AP) Day is back after four-year hiatus and will take place on March 14. STEM Day will return for the first time since 2020 and is set for April 25.

Volunteers are still needed for both events.

AP Day invites area high school students to come to Wayne State’s campus and take part in lectures by Wayne State professors. Attendees also have the chance to tour university facilities and eat lunch in the Towers Café or Student Center Building.

“It's really exciting to have AP Day back on our campus,” said Julie Hasse, Wayne State associate director of marketing and communications. “This is the 19th year we’ve hosted this event, and it provides a really great pipeline for prospective students to get a glimpse into what college life is like at Wayne State. They get to hear from some of our amazing faculty members on the different subject areas that they've been studying in their high school classes all year.”

AP Day is open to school groups as well as individual students accompanied by a parent or guardian. Registration is available until Feb. 28 at wayne.edu/apday.

More than a dozen area high schools have already registered for the event, which is designed to reward students who have enrolled in AP courses. The 20-plus lecture topics coincide with the AP College Board subjects and include topics such as art and design, computer science, drawing, music, and physics, just to name a few.

The majority of students who attend AP Day are high school sophomores and juniors. In previous years, many attendees have returned to Wayne State for college.

“We have been able to look at the data and see a lot of our current students have attended AP Day,” Hasse said. “Many of them were excited because they had never been on our campus prior to AP Day. We know the impact visiting campus has on the prospective student shopping experience and AP Day does a great job highlighting the quality of our academics.”

The day’s success relies on the efforts of volunteers.

“It’s a great opportunity for people who are working behind the scenes to engage with prospective students face-to-face,” said Rachel Flum, Wayne State marketing coordinator. “It's a really good reminder of why we do the work that we do and to have more of a personal connection with the students that we're trying to communicate with.”

Hasse believes it’s a great opportunity for Wayne State employees to take part in the recruitment process.

“I think that, as employees of Wayne State, we're all responsible, in some capacity, for highlighting the university and playing a role in recruitment,” Hasse said. “These are some of the best and the brightest students in the area, and it’s our duty to make sure we are, in a sense, rolling out that red carpet, welcoming them to our campus, and showing why Wayne State could be in their future.”

STEM Day, meanwhile, reaches out to even younger students. The event is designed to provide middle school students exposure to potential academic programs and career pathways in STEM-related fields through hands-on and interactive activities, Hasse expects STEM Day to draw roughly 2,400 people to campus, including 2,000 middle school students.

“This year we will host nearly 70 different activities ranging from health to cybersecurity,” Hasse said. “Students will be looking under microscopes, holding brains, dissecting owl pellets, coding, using ultrasound machines, walking on water and so much more.”

Volunteers are also needed for STEM Day.

“Volunteering at STEM Day is such a rewarding experience — watching young students, who are often on our campus for the first time — dig into areas and fields they likely never knew existed,” Hasse said. “STEM Day inspires ‘ah-ha’ moments for what the future could hold for them.”