Hudson and Holland Scholars Program open house attracts current, future students

A mix of new and familiar faces showed up at the Hudson and Holland Scholars Program’s open house Thursday afternoon. Prospective IU students, IU Bloomington freshmen, returning students, and campus partners mingled and enjoyed refreshments in the program’s bright new space on the third floor of the Admissions Building, 300 N. Jordan Ave.

“We recently moved in, so the open house was intended to introduce the space to our students and our campus colleagues,” said Hudson and Holland Scholars Program Director Marsha McGriff. “However, we’ve had some prospective students come, which is an amazing opportunity for them to interact with HHSP staff and our partners, but also with students in our program who are also in attendance.”

One of those prospective students was Elena Herrera, a senior at Bloomington North High School.

My dad heard about it and said it sounded like a good opportunity to have another home base in college. He said that it would be a good place to get help studying, academic advising, and for people to check up on you,” said Herrera. “Because IU is such a big school, it would be a really cool group of people to always have around.”

Chatting with her about Hudson and Holland was IU sophomore Erika Ramos, who jokingly admitted that she’d been “bothering” Herrera about the program’s benefits.

“It’s just a great support system. I established a friendship with my adviser, Mimi  [Dr. Miriam Attennoukon, Ph.D., the program’s STEM coordinator], and Rachel [Boveja], another one of the advisers. Mimi has guided me through troubles with classes and now that I’m considering changing my major, she’s been really helpful with that. If I’m ever struggling, I know that Mimi’s here and she’s going to do whatever she can to help me,” explained Ramos, an Indianapolis native.

“Where they used to have the office, it was not as convenient of a location for me. This is brighter. It’s just nicer. I really like coming here. I was just studying here with one of my best friends at IU, who I met through the program.”