Between the Columns spring 2014

Between the Columns

Spring 2014

INSPIRATION is in the

Developing Future Colonels Eastern Kentucky University welcomed some of its youngest Colonels ever to campus in October with the traditional rubbing of Daniel Boone’s boot. The young students, fourth graders from Lincoln County, comprise the inaugural class of EKU Libraries' Future Colonels project, made possible by the vision and generosity of Friends of EKU Libraries, Bob and Gayle McCroskey. The Future Colonels project seeks to give students from public schools in EKU’s service region an early glimpse of campus life, in the hope that they will ‘see’ their future selves attending college. Lincoln County’s Future Colonels were treated to the full EKU experience. Accompanied by Future Colonel guides Ashley Cole, EKU Librarian, and Amy Taylor, EKU Library Associate, the students visited several campus ‘hot spots’ in addition to the Daniel Boone statue, including EKU Libraries, the Noel Studio for Academic Creativity, Hummel Planetarium, and a residence hall. EKU Admissions’ own student tour guides guided the Future Colonels on portions of their campus tour, and they even had lunch in the Powell Cafeteria! “The experience seemed to have opened the students’ eyes,” says Amy Taylor, “They asked questions about how to get here, how to get scholarships, etc.” Student feedback indicates the program is already having an impact, as one excited fourth grader exclaimed,

I’ve got to earn a scholarship so I can come here. This is the best place! Plans are already underway for more groups of students to visit campus. “We’re hoping to have two schools visit in the fall,” stated Ashley Cole, “While the hope is these students will choose to attend EKU, the ultimate goal is college, whether EKU or elsewhere.”

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