Quick Study Ewu Admissions Team Makes A Pass At Prospective Students

Football fanatics may cheer John Friesz’s spiral to Joey Galloway at the Seattle Seahawks training camp in Cheney.

But officials at Eastern Washington University are on their feet for fans like Bob Cate and his 13-year-old son, Zack.

At a time when EWU is desperate for students, money and positive publicity, the Seahawks arrived with TV crews, sportswriters and fans in tow.

EWU responded with a team of recruiters to help turn around flagging enrollment.

“It might be the springboard to save the place,” said Athletic Director Richard Zornes.

After a 12-year absence, the Seahawks returned to EWU for a monthlong training camp, July 16 to Aug. 13. The team has drawn 500 to 5,000 fans daily, including busloads of Western Washington boosters who rarely find reason to visit the second-largest city in Spokane County.

Admissions officers, who spend $250,000 each year recruiting students statewide, said the camp has scored big for the school while costing almost nothing. Film footage and Cheney datelines on newspaper stories are invaluable to the university, officials said.

“The campus visit is a key component to recruiting students,” says Michelle Whittingham, associate director of admissions. “The Seahawks bring them right to us.”

Cate, a Davenport, Wash., dietary cook, and his son are the kind of fans that EWU would never see without the Seahawks presence.

Although they live just 35 miles away, Cate said the pair had never visited the university. Zack said he would like to attend college some day, preferably the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

But as the red-haired youth relaxed on a grassy hill last week, soaking in sunshine and counting snatches by Galloway, a speedy wide receiver, Zack warmed up to the campus.

“It’s not that bad here,” he said. “The fields are pretty nice.”

Attracting new students is paramount to EWU’s future because the school may lose millions in state funding if it misses enrollment targets.

Nearly 7,340 students attended the university in the 1996-97 academic year, down from 8,000 in 1995-96.

“I was here when the Seahawks left, and we lost some vitality,” Zornes said. “But it’s back and all over campus right now.”

The Seahawks paid the university about $300,000 to host the camp and nearly 100 part-time jobs were created to prepare meals and maintain facilities for the team.

During the training camp, the admissions office operates an information table between the Jim Thorpe Fieldhouse and practice fields. Student volunteers lead campus tours upon request.

Whittingham said her staff hands out enrollment applications every day.

“We hit everybody from grade-schoolers to senior citizens,” she said. “The Seahawks may be here just one year, but we’re hoping they (Seahawks) come back.”

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