Thousands of admitted students poured onto San José State’s campus on Saturday to take tours around the campus to see if they would want to continue their academic careers in San José on Saturday.
Admitted Spartan Day gives admitted students the chance to explore campus life. Admitted students engage in special topics workshops, academic open houses, and activities like campus tours and the resource fair according to SJSU’s website.
The event officially began in the Provident Credit Union Event Center as students heard from university leaders the itinerary for the day, according to the SJSU website.
After the check-ins at 7 a.m., students were allowed to scour the Event Center for the organizations that had their tables set up throughout the room.
Over 100 clubs and organizations were present in the Event Center. The SJSU Athletics, Pride Center, representatives of the Student Union, Financial Aid and Scholarship Office, Career Center and other academic departments at SJSU were present at the event, according to the same website.
Admitted students and their families were also able to gather around the Tower Hall Lawn for tours that took place from 8 a.m. to noon.
Orientation leader Aniket Tikariha, a software engineering graduate, was tasked with giving tours to incoming students. He said there was a lot of information to learn in order to educate guests.
“We have a defined path and specific pointers for what we need to say,” Tikariha said. “For each building there are specific facts we give out.”
He said knowing when buildings were built and the budget were some of the facts the tour guides needed to know.
Tikariha said the tours only guided campus guests outside around campus instead of providing tours inside of the school buildings.
He also said 14,000 students registered for Admitted Spartan Day and large crowds of people still decided to join different campus tours despite the rainy weather.
“This event is important for students because it familiarizes them with the campus a bit,” Tikariha said. “They can see if it's a safe place.”
Emily Ngo, a business marketing alumni, was tabling for the college of social sciences trying to recruit students.
“The College of Social Sciences has 12 different departments, and we’re here to showcase all of our unique departaments and show what students can do with a social science degree,” Ngo said.
She said Admitted Spartan Day is extremely important to students because admitted students have no idea what is offered to them.
“It’s really overwhelming when you’re 17-years-old and you have no idea what to do,” Ngo said. “When it comes to these types of events they get knowledge that’s not really shown on the website.”
Aside from different colleges, there were also a handful of club sports tabling, trying to recruit students, according to the Spartan Recreation website.
SJSU’s Wrestling and Women’s Lacrosse were a couple of the club sports who were present at Admitted Spartan Day.
SJSU Wrestling President Francisco Borjon, a business administration senior, was tabling for his club, trying to recruit admitted students onto the mat.
Borjon said students could just come and try wrestling for the first time if they haven’t wrestled in the past.
“We offer opportunities for beginners who just want to try and we also offer opportunities for those who want to compete,” he said. “This year we competed against Fresno State and Sacramento State here on campus.”
Borjon said he is graduating this spring, but will stay on as an advisor because he sees the club growing well past his tenure. He said a lot of people showed interest throughout the day.
Advertising and economics freshman Heaven Meneses was tabling for the Women's Lacrosse club team.
She said most of the girls who have signed up have never played lacrosse before.
“We’re here to teach people the sport, but also to make new friends,” Meneses said.
Meneses said this was the chance for students to develop their support system if they decide to commit to SJSU.
One of the open houses was at Hugh Gillis Hall, where the Radio-Television-Film department had its studio open for students to get a glimpse at.
Radio-Television-Film senior Kyle Tran was showing the students how they can be hands-on if they chose to attend San José. Inside the studio they had cameras and a set that students could see in action.
“It’s a lot of technical work,” Tran said. “You get the most experience by looking and seeing all the things that go on behind the scenes.”
