{"id":136907,"date":"2023-08-31T10:41:30","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T14:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=136907"},"modified":"2025-06-23T18:27:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T22:27:56","slug":"ucf-sees-success-with-efforts-to-increase-local-student-recruitment-through-community-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-sees-success-with-efforts-to-increase-local-student-recruitment-through-community-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Sees Success With Efforts to Increase Local Student Recruitment Through Community Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"
In 2020, Mindy Mozena, director for Enrollment Services at UCF Downtown, was looking at enrollment rates from high schools within an 8-mile radius of the campus. She was shocked at what she found. The total number of Jones High School graduates who enrolled at UCF over the past five years was just 2.8%. Of those who enrolled, only 1.2% were admitted as first-year students directly into the university.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the creation of the UCF Downtown campus, there is a great opportunity to provide access to post-secondary education without the need for local students to travel far from home,\u201d Mozena says. \u201cAfter looking at the research, I knew that more intentional connections and outreach were important to increase student\u2019s awareness about UCF and what we have to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Opened in Fall 2019, UCF Downtown is located in the Parramore neighborhood of Orlando. The campus is home to a variety of degree programs, including those focused on civic engagement and government, safety and justice, community well-being, content creation, communication, and digital arts and entertainment. It also shares the campus with Valencia College, building on the DirectConnect to UCF<\/a>\u00a0program.<\/p>\n All of these attributes make UCF Downtown the perfect place to recruit local high school seniors. Philanthropic partners agree. In 2017, the Helios Education Foundation granted UCF with funds to develop the Parramore Education and Innovation District<\/a> (PEID) initiative, a plan to strengthen the educational ecosystem in Parramore.. The ultimate goal was to connect resources and grow support that would allow every Parramore resident to achieve a post-secondary credential. Over the next six years, the plan attracted additional donors from the Kresge Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and the City of Orlando to achieve that mission.<\/p>\n Community Engagement and Partnerships Manager for UCF\u2019s College of Community Innovation and Education DeShawn Chapman \u201911MEd \u201916EdD<\/strong>, who is the former education programs manager for PEID, worked directly with Parramore families, acting as a bridge between them and the resources within and outside the community.<\/p>\n \u201cThe relationships that DeShawn and the PEID team were able to build with the local community were crucial to our success,\u201d Mozena says. \u201cShe and her team had the trust, established the connections and allowed us to build on those existing relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, with more than $3.44 million in new collective funding, Mozena is blazing the path forward. In the last year alone, her team has held more than three dozen events designed to provide program information and foster connections within the community. Together with partners at Valencia College, they are invested and engaged with the local students and their families, and attracting new donors \u2014 like the Florida Blue Foundation\u00a0\u2014 to support their efforts.<\/p>\n The community engagement activities range greatly, from costume parades to on-campus classroom experiences<\/a>, spirit days at the high schools to federal financial aid or FAFSA workshops and, in some cases, one-on-one coaching to guide students through the UCF enrollment process. Each touchpoint is intentionally designed to educate students about the benefits of college, get them to apply \u2014 particularly to the one in their backyard \u2014 and provide resources for them to graduate college successfully.<\/p>\n