Northwest creates a diverse atmosphere to help students step out of their comfort zone and prepare for their future.
As a way to create the diversity for student to succeed on all levels, the admissions office reaches out to inner-city students, the Intercultural and International Center retains diversity and students get involved to recruit.
Gina Smith, Assistant Admissions Director, recruits in inner-city areas for Northwest. Smith focuses on a wide area of diversity while speaking to high schools in Kansas City, St. Louis and Wright City. Focusing on these areas give the students the opportunity to hear that going to a university is an option.
As part of recruiting, Smith and others attend college fairs around the Midwest; letting students know that grants and scholarships are available makes it easier for students to place themselves in the college atmosphere, Smith said.
Having a diverse campus is something that is not only important to all students but faculty as well.
"We are trying to prepare people for the modern world, and you have to have diversity to do that," Smith said.
Letting students know that there are opportunities and resources available at Northwest often helps get students comfortable in the new setting, Smith said.
Northwest students also know that promoting to inner-city areas is important to create diversity on campus.
Jason Williams, president of Students Taking Action Through Service (STATS), helps to present a unique experience to the students in inner-city students. The high school students have the opportunity to shadow Northwest students throughout the day, go to class and attend meetings with them, Williams said.
"Although we recruit for college, we are trying to tailor our recruiting to get more diversity at Northwest," he said.
Since 2005, diversity on campus has increased at least 7 percent. This growth occurred due to recruitment from areas such as Kansas City and St. Louis, Ame Lambert, intercultural affairs director said.
A support structure was developed by the IIC to makes sure diversity is retained, Lambert said.
The IIC identifies the individual needs of the students and the expectations, to ensure the student's success and then makes realistic goals to achieve those expectations.
One of the biggest challenges when involving different races is getting people to interact with each other and stepping out of their comfort zones, Lambert said.
"When it comes to stepping out of my experience and into somebody else's and really listening to somebody else's story … we have tunnel vision," Lambert said.
As a way to remove the 'tunnel vision,' the IIC has services, such as TUG and MMO, which are provided to promote learning and achievement of personal goals along with promoting diversity.
"At Northwest, there is an opportunity for students to learn about each other, all of the people who make America," Lambert said. "It is a great way to prepare students for the work place."
Student organizations on campus are another way that diversity is promoted and used to retain diversity on campus, she said.
Mentors are provided to minority students to assist their transition into the Northwest atmosphere. This program is known as Mentors Over Retention Program (MORE), is used to retain the students and create leaders that are able to make an impact on their future, Lambert said.
"There are lots of good people who want to do good things and there are lots of good people working to do good things," Lambert said.
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