UNM seeks to recruit minority students through events such as African American Student Day, which was held in the SUB on Friday.
Admissions & Recruitment Services and African American Student Services hosted more than 150 students from Manzano, Cibola, Del Norte, Clovis, Rio Rancho and Albuquerque high schools.
Cherese Fine, the senior student program adviser for African American Student Services, said she hopes students will be intrigued about UNM's resources for blacks and that retaining black students is of the utmost importance to her organization.
"We're kind of like the hub here for the black students, and we try to point them in the right direction and make sure they're successful," she said. "Our job is to try and retain students when they get here, so we try to do these recruitment days to get them to come here."
Fine said UNM should continue to host an annual African American Student Day, which is in its eighth year.
"I think it's important because we can expose our students that live right here in New Mexico to what UNM has to offer, and it lets them know that we have services here," Fine said. "They get to meet professional staff and students, and that way they'll know where to go."
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Natasha Beachum, a senior from Clovis High School, said she was curious to find out more about UNM.
"They were getting a group of students together to go, and I thought it would be a good experience to see more of UNM," she said. "I kind of wanted to see what it was all about."
Students began the day with a career fair, where they received information about the majors UNM offers.
Next, African American Student Services and Admissions & Recruitment Services presented in-depth information about the application process, scholarships, student exchange and other admissions issues.
Joycelyn Pegues Jackson, the APS coordinator for multicultural education, said pre-orientation sessions like this are part of a continuum of support.
"I think it's important because it exposes them to college life before it actually happens," Jackson said. "They learn about the process that needs to take place before they can attend UNM."
After the admissions information session, the seniors were split as part of a "Brother-to-Brother" and "Sister-to-Sister" question-and-answer gathering.
Jackson said the session provided information that might not be available in a large conference.
"There may be different kinds of questions that young women may want to talk to girls about and vice versa with the guys," she said.
Beachum said she plans to attend UNM next fall and that African American Student Day helped rid her of pre-college anxiety.
"I feel a lot better informed because our counselors' information at school is pretty limited," Beachum said. "This gave me a lot of specific information that I needed. It also gave me information about resources, like people I could call if I need help."
