Maddy Horton and Agnes Porter want high school students from their hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the surrounding area to find their way in college where they did: at Middle Tennessee State University.

Horton and Porter, both 20, are joining MTSU administrators and academic staff in Chattanooga Tuesday, Sept. 29, on the first leg of the expanded True Blue Tour to recruit prospective students.

Tyner Academy senior Chelsea Owten, 16, left, listens and observes as MTSU College of Basic and Applied Sciences adviser Doug Adams explains the academic map — the four-year schedule of classes she would be taking — with an iPad during the True Blue Tour recruiting event in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Sept. 29. Chattanooga was the first leg of the expanded nine-city tour to recruit students. (MTSU photos by Randy Weiler)

The Chattanooga event was held at the Chattanooga Convention Center.

At midmorning Sept. 29, officials from MTSU and Cleveland State Community announced a new dual admissions and reverse transfer agreement for area students. You can learn more about that development here.

To register for any MTSU Admissions events, go to www.mtsu.edu/rsvp. Walkups are welcome.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee and other administrators will join deans from the university’s eight academic colleges, the library services dean and counselors from the financial aid and admissions offices.

They will be on hand to answer questions from prospective students, transfer students and their parents at the events.

Maddy Horton

Horton, a junior mathematics major with a minor in secondary education and a 2014 graduate of Grace Baptist Academy, said she “hopes to be a voice from the Chattanooga area and show what MTSU is about from a student perspective.”

“It’s a great community. Everyone has a place at MTSU,” added Horton, whose goal after graduating in 2017 is to teach high school students and coach softball.

“Life at MTSU has been everything I hoped for and more. Community is a big deal here. The student-teacher ratio is like 20 to 1. MTSU has lived up to my expectations. All my professors know me by my first name, even from my first semester, so I feel a part of the community rather than being just another number.”

Agnes Porter

Porter, a 2013 East Hamilton High School graduate who attended sixth through 11th grades at the Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts, said she will share “how hands-on the university is.”

“This past year has shown me all the different opportunities the university offers to students not only with facilities and equipment, but how they don’t just teach it by the book,” added Porter, who is majoring in political science and electronic media communication and plans to attend law school at the University of California-Berkeley or Georgetown University.

Both students are “Blue Elite” members helping provide campus tours.

Joe Legge

Porter participates in The Scholars Academy, recently joined the MTSU chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists and served internships at the state Capitol and in Washington, D.C.

Horton is a member of Sigma Alpha Lambda, a national honors leadership society, and a Hope Lottery Scholarship recipient. She is involved in The Point, a New Vision Baptist Church college ministry, and Campus Outreach, an on-campus ministry.

Nashville native and MTSU alumnus Joe Legge, WDEF-TV “News 12 This Morning” anchor, provided a welcome during the student reception.

Legge has earned several awards for his work, both in the field and on the set, and viewers see his frugal side with his “Joe Frugal” blog on Facebook and on www.WDEF.com.

MTSU brings True Blue Tour to Atlanta Sept. 30

Who: Middle Tennessee State University administrators and academic personnel

What: True Blue Tour visits Atlanta

When: 11:30 a.m. EDT (counselors’ luncheon) and 6 p.m. EDT (student reception) Wednesday, Sept. 30

Where: Cobb Galleria Centre, 2 Galleria Parkway SE, Atlanta (events will be in a ballroom). For directions, go to http://cobbgalleria.com/attendees/the-destination/directions-parking.

Why: University President Sidney A. McPhee, college deans, academic advisers and staff from virtually all MTSU departments take MTSU on the road to recruit prospective students. The Atlanta event marks the first time the Murfreesboro, Tennessee, school has taken the tour outside Tennessee. Admissions representatives invite counselors from area high schools and staff from area community colleges for lunch as a thank-you for sending students to MTSU. The student reception allows area high school and community college students and their parents to “meet MTSU” and learn about its more than 150 offerings including signature programs of recording industry, aerospace, business and Concrete Industry Management. The university’s Academic Common Market, where Georgia students are offered in-state tuition for programs such as recording industry and others because no Georgia college or university offers these majors, will be a major topic, along with guaranteed scholarships for freshmen who meet ACT and GPA requirements and apply by Dec. 1.

In Atlanta, MTSU will:

• announce the Regional Scholars Program, a reduced tuition for select Georgia students who score a 25 or higher on their ACT, live within 250 miles of our campus in Murfreesboro, and apply by Dec. 1 for fall 2016 admission.
• showcase a delegation of Chinese scientists with President Sidney A. McPhee on the trip that the university is partnering with on research. Professor Elliot Altman, director of the Tennessee Center for Botanical Medicine Research and a former University of Georgia faculty member and researcher, is coordinating the Chinese visit on the visit.

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

Rachel Reece, 16, left, and her mother Laura Reece, of Chattanooga, Tenn., listen as MTSU College of Education Dean Lana Seivers covers ground regarding the university’s teaching program Sept. 29 during the True Blue Tour visit to Chattanooga. Rachel Reece is a home-schooled student. Listening to the dean’s conversation is college adviser Bryanna Licciardi. The tour will be in Atlanta Sept. 30.