Friday through Sunday, hundreds of prospective students will come to Cal Poly’s campus for PolyCultural Weekend (PCW).
PolyCultural Weekend is a personalized experience that serves to show prospective students in underrepresented minority groups the cultural community at Cal Poly through various cultural, academic and social events.
Current Cal Poly students involved in cultural clubs and organizations on campus are individually paired with a prospective student, or “hostee,” as their mentor for the weekend.
During their stay, prospective students have the opportunity to learn about the cultural community and resources at Cal Poly, as well as life as a person of color at a predominantly white institution.
“Without PCW, I really would not be at Cal Poly.”
Former PCW hostee Marissa Thai
As a predominately white institution, Cal Poly continues its efforts to create a more diverse campus. Although there was a 3.2% increase in enrolled underrepresented students at Cal Poly in Fall 2021, 53.2% of the total student body remains white, according to the latest PolyView data in 2021.
Underrepresented students include those who report their race or ethnicity to the university as Native American, African American, Asian American, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino or multiracial.
According to a previous PCW hostee, graphic design senior Marissa Thai, PCW points out that diversity is an issue on Cal Poly’s campus, and lets students know about the resources that are available to underrepresented students at Cal Poly.
“Without PCW, I really would not be at Cal Poly,” Thai said. “Getting to actually talk to an upperclassman who was in my major answered a lot of my questions and helped give me a push to feel comfortable going to this campus.”
Throughout the weekend, a broad range of cultural clubs and organizations participate to help show prospective students what Cal Poly POC are involved in.
Some organizations that will be attending PCW this weekend are Pilipino Cultural Exchange, Indian Student Association, Sigma Omega Nu and National Society of Black Engineers.
Social events, like tours of downtown San Luis Obispo, dinners and a talent show are also scheduled to take place. Performances from the cultural dance clubs SLO Breakers and United in Movement will also occur.
Cal Poly will hold Open House for all prospective students next weekend, April 7-9.