On Saturday Jan. 27, UPA welcomed prospective students and their parents during its annual Open House as part of the requirements to enter the school’s lottery process, which will take place on March 6.

A way to introduce the students and their parents to the typical schedule of a student attending the school, the event is a collaborative effort with faculty, teachers and students working together to make sure the school highlights its best when the future students arrive.

“[The open house] gives prospective parents or students a chance to visit the school and the teachers [and] take a look at the curriculum that we have,” Andrew Yau, the director of student services, said.

The teachers were not the only ones busy educating the parents and students about life at school.

As the WEB and LINK team brought their tour groups to different classrooms, they answered questions about homework, the lack of lockers and the daily schedule of a middle or high school student.

Sophomore Greg Haessner, a WEB leader, helped lead several groups.

“I was able to provide them with all the details I could from my knowledge of the school,” Haessner said.

In classrooms, teachers gave the visitors a walkthrough on expectations and requirements of a student.

Emily Moallemi, whose sister hopes to attend UPA as a freshman, was captivated by the art projects and sculptures, while her father, Reza Moallemi, focused more on the curriculum aspect of each subject.

“I liked the presentation in the math class,” Moallemi said. “[It] was pretty clear in terms of the future plans for each student in what they want to do and in what courses they want to take.”

In the end, students and parents considered the presentations they saw from the teachers and the first-hand experiences they heard from the WEB and LINK leaders.
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“I think [UPA] is a great school, the classes, teacher presentations and the availability of the different subjects,” Moallemi said. “It was pretty much what we were looking for, besides that it is close to our home, very clean and a nice school overall.”