High school students enjoyed events that were held during  the 22nd  “Rock ‘n Roar Fest” including an exhibit run by the department of biological sciences. This is part of the “Southeast Louisiana District Literary Rally.” Jacob Summerville/The Lion’s Roar

The university hosted its annual event for high school district rally students this past weekend.

“Rock ‘n Roar Fest” celebrated its 22nd year on Saturday, Feb. 24 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event works in conjunction with the “Southeast Louisiana District Literary Rally,” and students were provided with more than just classrooms and tests. 

Associate Director of Alumni Programming Jennifer O’Neil explained how the event operates. 

“The ‘Rock ‘n Roar Fest’ portion of the event features a collaboration of student organizations, educational departments and alumni chapters who work together to provide food, fun and education to all of the visiting students,” said O’Neil. “It’s an opportunity to showcase what Southeastern has to offer to potential future students. It is our hope that high school students walk away from the event with a positive experience of being on our campus and will consider Southeastern a top choice when applying for college.”

O’Neil also talked about the event’s size and importance.

“The ‘Literary Rally’ is one of the largest and oldest competitions for academically talented high school students,” said O’Neil. “This year, we will host over 3,400 students from nearly 90 high schools as they compete in 49 different academic areas.”

Catholic High School junior Allen Duggar shared his experience at “Rock ‘n Roar Fest.”

“It was a lot bigger than what I was expecting, so that was cool,” said Duggar. “I think maybe live music would be a nice addition, but I thought overall, it was pretty cool. I enjoyed buying some Girl Scout Cookies, and I think I liked the drunk goggles thing. It’s a good opportunity for education.”

Baton Rouge Magnet High School senior Felix Harrison enjoyed the animal display put on by the department of biological sciences. 

Harrison shared his experience with the psychology testing.

“I did do some reading because there were a lot of units we haven’t covered yet in class, and so we used practice cards for the AP exam to study for that,” said Harrison. “I think it went OK. There were definitely questions for units we haven’t covered yet that I just did my best to guess on, but overall, I think I did well.”

Sophomore elementary education major and volunteer Lynzee Orillion participated at a district rally competition at McNeese State University when she was in high school. She compared her experience volunteering at the university to her time as a high school student.

“Where I went, we didn’t have games or anything,” said Orillion. “Here, they have the games going on, and they have the booths set up to where they can be like, ‘Here, come to Southeastern. Here’s some groups you can join,’ to feel like you’re involved in the college as soon as you get here. You know some people, and then, we helped them find their classrooms. We were always off on our own, like fend for yourself, go find it. Here, they help you find the classrooms. So, that made it easier. I’m sure they felt less pressure going into their tests.”