The Oakland Center was lined with tables and representatives from various departments and student organizations, waiting to greet high school students, transfer students and other prospective Grizzlies for Oakland University’s Go for the Gold recruitment event Saturday, March 22.

Undergraduate Admissions held the event. Admissions Programming Assistant and senior Aaron Kapanowski said this is one of the biggest events Undergraduate Admissions puts on.

“I think it’s an awesome event,” Kapanowski said. “The admissions team does a great job.”

As a programming assistant, Kapanowksi described his job as “behind-the-scenes admissions”.

The same kind of behind-the-scenes work went into this event as well, according to Kapanowski.

Through this event, high school and transfer students are able to get “an overall feel for what it’s like” at OU.

One of OU’s most esteemed programs, the Honors College, had a table with plenty of honors students ready to talk with prospective students.

This was Shivam Patel’s first time working at the Honors College table for the event. The junior and Health Sciences major was eager to share his thoughts of the college with other students.

Patel said that the focus of the college is the honors thesis paper, a minimum 20-page paper that demonstrates “work of substantial scholarly or creative achievement,” according to the Honors College website.

Patel said he is currently working on his thesis proposal.

“The thesis is anything you want it to be,” Patel said.

The college, all together, has been an amazing experience, according to Patel.

“You can talk with really anybody,” Patel said. “Probably the greatest experience you’ll have in your life.”

Some new organizations could be found at the event as well.

One new group, Happyou Happyme of Oakland University, uses yoga and meditation as a way to de-stress and promote happiness.

The group meets to do yoga at the wellness classroom at the Recreation Center Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m.

Emma Spak, president of the organization, said the group is “yoga-based,” but Secretary Taylor James noted that the focus is “not as much on the physical side.”

Spak said they pay close attention to what group members want to get out of the sessions.

“We try and have them write one notecard each week about what things they want,” Spak said.

Many students were accompanied by parents as they sat in various presentations put on by current OU students, faculty and staff.

Nikolette Palmer attended the event with her mother, Gail Palmer. A junior at Romeo High School, Nikolette is a member of the school’s golf team as well as the school’s video production program.

Nikolette said she is thinking of either studying physical therapy or biomedical engineering. Regardless, Nikolette said that she “definitely wants to help people.”

This was Nikolette’s first time attending a recruitment event such as this.

“It was a lot of information but it’s a lot of fun,” Nikolette said.

Nikolette’s mother Gail said the experience was very beneficial for both students and parents.

“Sitting through their sessions, you see their (the university’s) expectation of what they (the students) need to be,” Gail said. “It helps knowing that information.”