FAMU Spring Preview Attracts Thousands of Students
Thousands of high school students and parents from all over the country converged on the Tallahassee campus for the 2024 Florida A&M University (FAMU) Spring Preview, an event designed for fall 2024 admitted students and to recruit students who are seeking admission fall 2025 and beyond.
Addressing the Saturday, March 23 gathering at the Lawson Multipurpose Center, FAMU President Larry Robinson, Ph.D., spoke about the competition to get into FAMU.
“We have over 20,000 applications for the 2024 fall semester, a number that is skyrocketing every year. What that means is our brand is highly respected and students not only want to come to FAMU; they are coming,” Robinson said. “So, don’t make us your second or third choice. In fact, if I were trying to get in today, I probably wouldn’t. For the fall 2024, the Grade Point Average of admitted students is 4.01, and what I know, and they know for sure, is that a degree from FAMU will matter and open tremendous doors of opportunity.”
Robinson was among a number of University administrators and staff who spoke to students who came by bus from across Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and across the southeast. Some students flew in from as far as California.
For one group of students, this event wasn’t their time on the campus.
Incoming freshman Sahara Calloway of Atlanta, Georgia, was just a baby when she first experienced FAMU. Calloway attended at daycare at what is now the Educational Research Center for Child Development.
“Most of my family went here… my cousins, both my parents, my granddad,” said Calloway. “It’s something I want to be a part of.
Coming from such a rich line of Rattlers, Calloway’s mind has been set from day one.
“It’s her only choice! Her mind is set,” said Calloway’s mother, Chandra Gibson, exclaimed.
“She doesn’t want to do anything else.”
Along with Gibson, many other alumni attended Spring Preview.
Keith Shannon, the national chaplain of the FAMU National Alumni Association (NAA), shared his excitement for future students preparing to embark on their Rattler journey.
“I move students,” Shannon said. “I encourage, inspire, and motivate students, and then I move them.”
He explained that since 1992, he’s been getting students off the edge of their seats, putting them on a bus, and taking them around the world.
Shannon is also a physical embodiment of FAMU legacy, stating his Rattler heritage.
“My daddy met my mama on the hill, my wife met me on the hill, my oldest daughter met her husband on the hill.” he shared. “If you cut my arm today… you will… see orange and green blood oozing from me. I’m Rattler born, Rattler bred, and going to be a Rattler ‘til the time I’m dead.”