Fifty students from Walla Walla High School will visit the Whitman campus on Wednesday, April 16 as part of the annual Shadow Day organized by Club Latino and First Generation/Working Class. For more than a decade, the annual Shadow Day has given high school students the chance to learn about the difficulties and opportunities of going to college.

Unlike programs such as Visitors’ Day and Admitted Students Day, Shadow Day is run entirely by Whitman students and is not associated with the Whitman Office of Admission. The event will give high school sophomores and juniors who are considering college the opportunity to speak with students and faculty who come from a working-class background, attend a workshop on financial aid and sit in on courses of interest to them.

“We hope to show that even if Whitman isn’t a school they are considering, that college is still an option for them and that we hope they pursue  higher education. Despite money being a big deciding factor, it is still possible,” said Club Latino Co-president Jackie Bonilla in an e-mail. “We hope to educate them about all sorts of financial opportunities available to them.”

This year’s Shadow Day will differ slightly from those of previous years because the application process has changed to provide the opportunity for more students to participate. In addition to applying directly to the program, students may now be recommended by teachers or counselors. The leaders of Club Latino and FGWC have also decided to remove the requirement of needing a 2.5 GPA to apply in order to reach out to more students.

“[We] don’t want to limit it to the straight-A students. [We] also want to target the students who are falling down the cracks,” said sophomore and FGWC Co-president Maricela Sanchez-Garcia.

Last year, a combination of the GPA requirement, miscommunication and lack of resources led to a smaller number of high school students being brought to campus than were expected. This year, however, organizers expect to host a full 50 students, 25 of whom will be high school sophomores and 25 juniors. The Shadow Day aims to engage younger students who have not yet applied to colleges and to encourage them to consider higher education as an option for their future. In contrast, the Office of Admission holds events which target older students choosing which college to attend. The Office of Admission also has the Visit Scholarship Program, which provides funds for high school seniors from underrepresented socioeconomic, racial and cultural backgrounds from across the United States to visit Whitman.

“[Coming with the Visit Scholarship] felt like you had a support system, people wanted you to come to college and you weren’t alone in the process,” said Club Latino Co-president Brenda Zarazua, who visited Whitman with the aid of the Office of Admission during her senior year of high school.