Cover Sheet Tiara Fizer It gets REAL Fizer, T.

STORY 1-Rewrite Real Talk event assures informative and helpful sessions about college life June 19, 2013 Budget line: "Real Talk". Is a hosted Q&A sessions about college, life, just anything you could think of that incoming freshmen students could get information and answers to their questions . It is held every year on the second day of each orientation session. It gives incoming freshmen preferably the opportunity to ask any questions they want and receive feedback from previous students. It also gives them the chance to meet and greet new people, and create a mentor to mentee relationship. Sources:
Brandelyn Franks Ass. Dir. For Multicultural Engagement Center, UT Graduate o Email: brandelyn_franks@austin.utexas.edu o Date(s) contacted: via email 6/8/13 o I discussed the history of Real Talk with Ms. Franks. Randrick Washington- fifth year senior, Co-Chair of New Black Student Weekend o Phone: 832-969-8585 o Email: randrickw@austin.utexas.edu o Date(s) contacted: via cell 6/7/2013, via email 6/8/13 o Info: I discussed the average sizes of students currently and in the past with Mr. Washington. As well as who puts the event on. Charles Gee- junior o Phone: 214-861-9667 o Email: charles.gee721@gmail.com o Date(s) contacted: via cell 6/7/2013, via email 6/8/13 o Info: We discussed his experiences with real talk and advice he gave to incoming freshmen. Ronnie Shade- senior, Co-Director of Operations for Afrikan American Affairs o Phone: 214-417-2500 o Email: ronnie-13@sbcglobal.net o Date(s) contacted: via cell 6/8/2013, via email 6/8/13 o Info: We discussed everything from the history of Real Talk to the purpose this event serves. He also discussed his hope and future endeavors for the event. Janna Adkins- freshman o Email/Twitter: @JannaAdkins o Date(s) contacted: via twitter 6/7-10/13 o Info: Discussed how she felt about attending Real Talk

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Incoming freshmen scrambled about the University of Texas campus during orientation last Thursday. Some managed to take advantage of an question and answer session that could help them transition into college.

Real Talk is a program that encourages discussion between perspective freshmen and upperclassmen. It started 40 years ago as a way to welcome incoming students of color to the university and to answer questions that they had about the transition to college.

The goal is to ultimately gauge the perspective freshmans perceptions of college and to help them come to a conclusion of what college is actually like, said Ronnie Shade Jr., senior and co-director of operations for Afrikan American Affairs, a UT multicultural organization.

Real Talk, founded in 1972, began as a welcome program and was hosted out of Academic Enrichment Services, now known as the Longhorn Center for Academic Excellence. Each ethnic community would present their cultural history and hosted events/ organizations hosted during that year. Then students were broken up in their different communities to ask "real" questions and get helpful feedback. Later in 2009, the Longhorn Center for Academic Excellence partnered with Students for Equity and Diversity, an agency housed in the Multicultural Engagement Center (formerly the

Multicultural Information Center), to host the new installment of The Welcome Program!

This year the student Community Engagement committee helped organize Real Talk. During the second day of each orientation session, Real Talk invites students to attend the 9:30 p.m. session to get answers to their questions about college. Anxious to reel the students in, representatives of Real Talk publicize daily throughout the remaining orientation period to promote students to attend the informative sessions they host. However, they say they have problems trying to get the UT orientation schedules from orientation services when trying to set the schedule.

Representatives promote real talk through social networks such as Facebook, inviting everyone to spread the word. Incoming freshman Janna Adkins tweeted @JannaAdkinsReal Talk was THE best part of orientation. Yall were so cool and informative! Now I cant wait until August!!

On Facebook they list the orientation dates and times as well as when the event Real Talk takes places within each specific orientation day. Students can also submit questions anonymously through ask.fm.

Students are greeted at the door with a welcome and sheet of paper to write their questions on. The numbers vary every orientation session. The amount of freshmen has ranged from 30-50 per session in the past, stated Randrick Washington, fifth year senior

and Co-Chair of New Black Student Weekend, a UT multicultural organization. The student committee collects the papers before session starts and then uses those set of submitted questions to guide the discussion.

For upperclassmen like Charles, he finds Real Talk to be beneficial. I encourage them to seek help and also ask questions no matter how small or large they may be because that is the only way to grow and to gain knowledge, said junior, Charles Gee. Reminiscing on her past experiences Brandelyn Flunder, UT grad and assistant director for the Multicultural Engagement Center said, They gave me advice about traversing campus more easily, warned me about not finding a balance between my social and academic life, and alerted me to various organizations that I may be interested in.

Real Talk continues to host multiple events leading into the fall to further keep incoming freshmen active and informed about new opportunities on campus. They also follow-up with many freshmen and become their mentors to help them stay on track.