More than 50 Midstate high school counselors and community college staff attended an MTSU admissions-hosted luncheon as the university courts them in an effort to recruit students for 2018 and beyond.

The 52 counselors from Rutherford and surrounding counties and directors and staff from Motlow College’s Smyrna campus learned about MTSU’s 240 combined undergraduate and graduate programs.

U.S. Army 2nd Lt. James Phillips, left, gives Central Magnet School counselor Kris Clary information about the MTSU ROTC program Sept. 22 in the Student Union Ballroom. Clary and more than 50 others attended the university’s luncheon for high school counselors and community college staff as a way to recruit prospective students for 2018 and beyond. (MTSU photo by Randy Weiler)

Among the Middle Tennessee high schools with representatives in attendance were Siegel, Oakland, Blackman, Riverdale, Stewarts Creek and Smyrna in Rutherford County; Dickson, Franklin and DeKalb counties; Spring Hill and Zion Christian in Columbia, Tennessee; Wilson Central in Lebanon, Tennessee; and Community High School in Unionville, Tennessee.

The counselors and community college staff gathered information they can share with their students and talked to MTSU admissions representatives and administrators, led by President Sidney A. McPhee. He told them about new programs including fermentation science and religious studies.

In addition to goody bags, McPhee presented nearly $5,000 in scholarships that the counselors and Motlow staff can give to students planning to attend MTSU in the future. The staffers also were among the first to view the new video for the upcoming True Blue Tour.

The first of two MTSU Fall Preview Days will be Saturday, Sept. 23, on campus. For more information, visit http://mtsunews.com/sept-2017-preview-day.

MTSU begins the traveling portion of the annual True Blue Tour Tuesday, Oct. 3, with an 11:30 a.m. luncheon for counselors and community college staff and a 6 p.m. student reception in Franklin, Tennessee.

This will be the first of 12 recruiting visits in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama. To learn more, visit https://mtsunews.com/2017-true-blue-tour-expands.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)

Motlow College’s Yeulanda Pierce-Beverly, left, and Jonathan Graham and Spring Hill (Tenn.) High School counselor Jodie Grenead check out literature provided by the University Honors College Sept. 22 during MTSU’s luncheon for Middle Tennessee-area counselors and community college staff in the Student Union Ballroom. At Motlow’s Smyrna, Tenn., campus, Pierce-Beverly is disability and testing coordinator and Graham is director of the Tennessee Promise program. (MTSU photo by Randy Weiler)

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee discusses the university’s new and existing programs with those attending the Middle Tennessee luncheon for high school counselors and community college staff in the effort to recruit students for 2018 and beyond. (MTSU photo by Randy Weiler)