OCC rolls out red carpet

Deirdre Newman

Orange Coast College pulled out all the stops Tuesday to entice high

school seniors to attend the school next year.

More than 3,500 seniors from around the county descended on the Costa

Mesa campus and were treated to an array of attractions and activities,

including cheerleader performances, salsa lessons and tours of the

campus.

The 19th High School Day enables the college to reach out to seniors

in a personal way and show them the diverse flavor of the campus,

officials said.

“All the research shows in terms of student success and recruitment

that students make their decisions based upon what they can see and feel

and touch and look at,” said Jim Carnett, the college’s spokesman. “They

don’t like to make decisions from a distance.”

The quad was the focal point of activity as various departments and

student groups set up booths. During the day, the booths competed for

attention with such enticements as salsa lessons by dance instructor Jose

Costas, who had students shaking and shimmying to the beat.

A fortune teller, a.k.a. anthropology professor Gena Hollander, doled

out advice to students based on their energy fields.

“If I see pink, then [the students] get a pink fortune that says,

‘Your inquisitive mind will serve you well at OCC,” Hollander said.

Some of the departments that gave tours included the Computing Center,

Health Sciences and Fine Arts.

Katie Kelly, 17, a senior at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, said

it was a great way to get to know the campus.

“It was fun,” she said. “A lot of information was given out about

classes you can take.”

And Hugh Denno, 18, of Edison High School in Huntington Beach was

impressed with the size of the campus.

“It’s bigger than I thought,” Denno said. “And there’s lots of pretty

girls.”