Focus Forward program welcomes Red Creek students to campus

SUNY Oswego's Focus Forward program recently welcomed Red Creek Middle School students to campus for an immersive experience within the college's arts, media and technology facilities.

Scott Ball, the coordinator of Focus Forward, led the campus tour and started with a behind-the-scenes look at the newly renovated Tyler Hall. The students saw the updated and creative building design of Tyler Hall, and Cadi Hannold of SUNY Oswego's Blackfriars theatre organization talked to the students about improvements made to the facility as well as her organization's work on past and present productions.

The campus visit brought students to the WTOP-TV10 studio to check out its new high-tech facility. Melissa Wilson, WTOP's vice president of human resources and social media director, discussed the new set and equipment. The middle school students were then given the spotlight and took turns sitting at the news desk under the lights and reading off the prompter while being able to watch themselves through high-definition camera equipment.

After making their way through Marano Campus Center, Red Creek Middle School students explored the Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation. Students went to the Virtual Reality Lab for a demonstration by human-computer interaction graduate student Jordan Hermann. This hands-on experience let students show off their creative side and paint in 3D via HTC’s Vive Virtual Reality System.

Students from Red Creek Middle School next went to Cooper Dining Hall for dinner, where they talked with their peers and mentors about the day's campus visit.

"Being able to work on planning the campus visit is so exciting," said Jaclyn Shyptycki, the Focus Forward program graduate assistant who took charge of planning the visits. "When the day comes, I get to see the college students I collaborated with to plan the visit and the middle school students interact and have a great time together; it is a very rewarding position to be in."

The Focus Forward program is a school-based mentoring program that strives to enrich the lives of students in the surrounding community. It matches middle school and high school students in Oswego County school districts with trained and supported undergraduate mentors from SUNY Oswego who help provide the academic and social support necessary for students to achieve their full potential.

For more information, contact program coordinator Scott Ball at 315-312-3812.