On Saturday, Oct. 30, West Liberty University (WLU) conducted another successful Black and Gold Day event.

Similar to past events, Black and Gold Day is where prospective students, along with their families, are informed about campus life and what they can expect if they choose to attend West Liberty in the future.

Black and Gold Day is broken up into three sub-events. First, prospective students and their families attend the university overview presentation. Families gathered in Kelly Theatre located in the Fine Arts Building to hear a brief history about how West Liberty was established, as well as acquire information on its various departments and services.

After the presentation, families are then split into multiple small groups to receive a campus tour led by student ambassadors. Student ambassadors partner with resident assistants who provide additional help.

During campus tours, families get to see the majority of the buildings and facilities on campus as well as get information about various clubs and organizations that were not addressed in the overview presentation. When tours reach the student union, ambassadors will point out the different meal options on campus. Besides dining in the Marketplace, West Liberty’s cafeteria, students have the option to purchase meals from restaurants such as Sandellas, Wow or the student convenience store Bear Necessities.

Along with pointing out these different dining options, ambassadors will explain how meal plans work, as well as mention West Liberty’s flex dollars known as Sodexo dollars. Sodexo dollars are provided by Sodexo, West Liberty’s primary food carrier, which aids students in paying for their meals when they purchase an item that costs more than their meal swipe.

Before a tour ends, families get to witness what a dorm room looks like. Here, families learn about what a student can and cannot have in a dorm room. Ambassadors also speak on the different types of dorms and how students will be placed in either a single or suite style room.

After each tour concludes, families attend the academic and campus life fair. This is the last event of the day where all the academic and administrative departments, along with athletics, provide prospective students with pamphlets or flyers that give a brief overview on the various majors and minors students can pursue. As a gift, prospective students receive a free West Liberty t-shirt and are eligible to win a 1,000 dollar scholarship for attending.

Michelle Filberto, who is the Admissions Event Coordinator for West Liberty, explained that she was highly pleased with how Black and Gold Day turned out. “I’m extremely happy. We had over 41 families attend. Even though it rained it was still a really great event. We had a lot of positive comments from families about their time on campus.”

Filberto was not the only one to express her joy about Black and Gold Day. A couple prospective students shared their exciting moments as well.

“I thought that the tour was really nice today. I’ve never been to West Virginia before, I’m from Pennsylvania. I thought the location was beautiful, my tour guides were really kind and informational. The size of my group was good, we were in each building for a good amount of time. Overall, it went really well,” said Lucy Valkanas.

“I really liked looking in the science area with all the biology, looking in the labs and seeing the different classrooms. I like how we can see that there are small classrooms so that we can be more involved with teachers. I also liked looking at housing and seeing all the different options on where you can live,” said Chloe Kenamond.

Before families leave campus, they receive a ticket that allows them a free meal in the Marketplace.

The last two Black and Gold Day events for this semester will be held on Thursday, Nov. 11, and Friday, Dec. 3. Visit the WLU’s admission website to get more information on how to register.