Presidential Outreach Tour takes UofL to Western Kentucky

Those are some of the questions students from seven Kentucky high schools asked President James Ramsey, Admissions Director Jenny Sawyer or current UofL students during the 2012 Presidential Outreach tour’s four-day swing through Western Kentucky.

Ramsey talked to juniors and seniors at high schools in Warren, Daviess, Hopkins and Henderson counties, as well as in Fort Campbell, about the importance of continuing their educations and the benefits of attending UofL.

A current UofL student who graduated from each of the high schools also shared his or her UofL experience with the students from their alma maters.

Sean Southard, for instance, a UofL McConnell Scholar and 2011 Daviess County High School graduate, told his former schoolmates that UofL met the criteria he was looking for in a college and “was the right fit for me.”

The tour also included alumni receptions in Bowling Green and Owensboro; lunch with Governor’s Scholars and other top students in Bowling Green; and Ramsey giving speeches to the Owensboro and Hopkinsville Rotary Clubs and to more than 150 people at the Madisonville Chamber of Commerce.

For many, the highlight of the week may have been the free concert by School of Music faculty and students at the new Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center (SKyPAC) in Bowling Green. Nearly 1,000 people attended the event and heard a variety of music, from jazz to classical and opera.

The outreach tour continues in October and November with visits to Lexington, Ashland, Prestonsburg, Pikeville, Elizabethtown, Northern Kentucky and Louisville area schools.