May 1, 2018

Bay Area SEC College Tour Tops 600 in Attendees

Parents and students from the Palo Alto area of northern California had the opportunity to hear presentations from each SEC university.

By: SEC Staff
SECU (Twitter: @TheSECU)

For more than a decade the SEC College Tour has been a way for high school students and counselors in a region outside of the SEC’s geographic footprint to learn about SEC universities from experts in enrollment and admissions. This year’s tour stops were in Sacramento, Walnut Creek and Palo Alto, California, with more than 600 individuals attending one of the six related events.

The University of Missouri planned the 2018 SEC College Tour, and of the location, Missouri’s Executive Director of Admissions, Chuck May, said, “Northern California has a large concentration of high-achieving students who would excel in research and learning at any SEC institution. We saw strong interest from families when we last toured the Bay Area in 2015, so we thought this was a good year to return.”

In each city the SEC conducted a free, two-hour college fair for students and their parents, which featured short presentations and question and answer sessions with university representatives. During the next morning’s breakfast meeting, representatives offered more detailed institutional overviews to local school counselors.

The highlight of the breakfast meeting continues to be the SEC Roll Call where school counselors are educated on SEC traditions and taught each university’s cheers and chants.

“We learned so much about these universities that have top-tier research programs that are accepting California students,” said Becky Mertel, a counselor who previously attended the SEC College Tour. “The school spirit was second to none.”

The SEC College Tour is one of several programs designed by the Southeastern Conference to showcase the range of accomplishments of SEC students, faculty and administrators. Dates and locations for the 2018-2019 SEC College Tour are to be announced.