By TENA L. COOK, CSC Marketing Coordinator
CHADRON – Chadron State College has announced its annual Scholastic Contest will now occur in the fall semester, rather than the spring semester. The event, which traditionally draws hundreds of high school students from Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado to compete in dozens of academic tests, is set for Nov. 9, 2022.
Scholastic Contest committee co-chairs, Dr. Jamie Hamaker, associate professor in Business and Dr. Tara Hart, associate vice president for Enrollment Management, met with key administrators as they planned to change the date.
“CSC is proud of the Scholastic Contest, and area schools love it and want to be a part of it. We want to provide an academic opportunity for their students to come and compete. These students are high academic achievers,” Hart said.
Hart said as the Scholastic Committee thoroughly evaluated the event, they looked for untapped opportunities.
“We felt like if there was ever a time to consider shifting Scholastic Day this was the year,” Hart said. “We needed to do our due diligence so we reached out to all the high schools that had expressed interest in coming this spring. We were able to have a dialogue with some and ask what time of year would be best for their students. We want to serve them and their students better with activities.”
Considerations for establishing the new date included avoiding timing conflicts with high school athletic events, FFA, and ACT and SAT dates.
“We want the students to experience campus life. We're planning hands-on activities and reaching out to faculty who are designing and providing tests. We’d also like to see if faculty and staff would do various demonstrations,” Hart said.
The committee is considering a CSC student panel and sessions by CSC students such as, what it means to be an NCAA II student-athlete and what it is like to be a student leader.
“In addition to having fun hanging out in the Student Center, we really want the high school students to better understand what it means to be part of CSC student organizations and see the variety of options available here. I love it when we educate any students, teachers or counselors about what we do and not only that we are an affordable institution with a high-quality education, but what it means to access higher education, in general,” Hart said.