The Columbus Dispatch published another story about the OSU Freshman Welcome to Columbus Event on Monday. This article gets into a little more detail about the content of the event.
"With one of the country’s largest classes of freshmen starting school this week, Ohio State
University and Columbus civic leaders came up with a win-win plan to give incoming students a taste
of Downtown.
As part of an hours-long immersion in all things Buckeye, on Monday, OSU’s 7,000 newly minted
freshmen were bused to Nationwide Arena for an introduction to the heart of the city by Mayor
Michael B. Coleman, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams founder Jeni Britton Bauer and others. Though they
were coming from campus just 3 miles away, many of these students might not have made it to
Downtown for months on their own, since OSU’s sprawling campus can serve as a self-contained
city.
Everyone’s the richer for trying to get students involved with the city, and vice versa, from
the outset. The more students see of Columbus’ diverse neighborhoods and their cultural and
entertainment options, the more likely they are to get the most out of their college years.
From the city’s perspective, this could mean slowing the “brain drain” leaders long have fretted
about. Studies in recent years have shown that young people decide where to bring their skills and
knowledge after graduation based as much or more on where they’d like to live as on where they can
readily get a job. Columbus has been no match for cities like Chicago, Seattle and Boston in its
cool factor with young people.
Some of that may be based on a simple lack of knowledge about all that this city has to offer.
So civic groups, including the Columbus Chamber, the Columbus Partnership and the Experience
Columbus visitors bureau, helped organize an introduction to Columbus sports, attractions and
businesses that was both entertaining and informative.
“We’re cool, we’re fun. We’re exciting,” Coleman told the young attendees. “And we want you to
stay here.”
The initiative grew out of Easy Columbus, a Web-based effort started three years ago to try to
connect students from a number of central Ohio colleges with the city. Monday’s event demonstrates
that even though today’s students live very much in the digital world, often texting and tweeting
more than they actually talk to each other, there’s nothing like a good old-fashioned pep rally to
reach students and grab their interest.
This was proved by some of the tweets that students sent out during the event.
“Today made me so excited to be living in Columbus,” tweeted Jesse Crow.
“Going to live in Columbus some day for sure,” said Erin Mundorf.
Welcome to Columbus, students. The city is happy to have you here, and hopes you decide to
stay."
