The Barão Geraldo campus dawned full of young people from different cities at the opening of the 14th edition of Unicamp Open Doors (UPA). Despite the rain that began in the Campinas region, thousands of students arrived in groups, by chartered bus or on their own, accompanied by their teachers, classmates or family.
Present at the opening of the UPA, the rector of Unicamp, Marcelo Knobel, highlights the importance of the event for the community as a whole. “Our intention is to open Unicamp to society, showing what we do and identifying good students. We have many colleagues who entered Unicamp for the first time through UPA, a fundamental activity to show society the strength of the public university".
Students are welcomed in the pocket located behind the central Library, and then receive guidance from volunteer monitors and university staff. From there they arrive at colleges and institutes, where activities will be taking place. The circular bus lines that take students to the units were busy. Many young people preferred, however, to walk around the campus with the monitors along the already established routes.
In most cases, UPA is the first opportunity for many young people to have greater contact with the courses offered by Unicamp. This is the case of student Ângela Helena Carneiro Neves, who came to visit Unicamp along with the delegation from the Liberte-se de Campinas community course. "The UPA is important for us to talk to people on the courses, see inside and get an idea of what I will be doing", says Ângela, a resident of the center of Campinas and a third-year high school student at Escola Estadual Francisco Glicério.
His classmates came accompanied by teachers, many of whom are former Unicamp students and who encourage participation in the event. This is the case of Matheus Henrique Hilário dos Santos Fagundes, teacher of the Liberte-se course and who studied social sciences at university. "UPA is important to bring students who generally don't have the opportunity to get to know the university. It ends up being an incentive for them to motivate themselves. And it's a way for them to be able to step foot at university for the first time."
Another teacher who accompanied her students was Patricia Amorim da Silva, from Fundação Bradesco de Osasco. A former student of the community-based Cursinho da Poli, she also had the opportunity to get to know public universities through events such as UPA before passing the entrance exam. "Every year we try to bring students to the university experience, and Unicamp has a welcoming structure with monitors, who guide the student to learn about the course. The lectures and classes are very interesting for them."
Among the Fundação Bradesco students was Natália Amorim Pereira, in her third year of high school, who is interested in humanities and arts courses. “I'm interested in the music course, but I also want to see other courses more linked to language”, says Natália, who already knew a little about Unicamp because of her brother, a student on the biological sciences course.
But not only third-year students take advantage of the UPA, as is the case of Mateus Oliveira da Mata, who is studying the second year of high school integrated with the IT technician at the Escola Técnica Estadual de Lins. On his first time visiting Unicamp, accompanied by colleagues from ETEC, Mateus is interested in studying law at other universities, but wants to learn more about the options offered at Unicamp. "I think this Unicamp initiative is really cool, as it's an opportunity for us to learn about other courses that we hadn't imagined."
Another technical education student present at UPA was Mateus de Moraes, a high school student at Sesi 409 in Jundiaí and an electromechanics student at Senai Alfried Krupp, in Campo Limpo Paulista. “When we don't have a vision of what we want, here is an opportunity to get to know the courses and see if it really is what we want”, says Mateus, who entered Unicamp for the first time.
Among the people working in the organization there are also former UPA visitors, such as Aline Dias Nunes, who is directing the queue for buses going to colleges and institutes. Aline studied statistics at the Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Scientific Computing (Imecc) in 2013 and visited UPA in 2011 and 2012, together with her colleagues from the Anglo course in Guarulhos. “I already had an idea of what to take, but coming to UPA helped by talking to people who were already studying at Unicamp, and made me have a better idea of the course”, says Aline. She has now decided to return to UPA as a monitor. “In the same way that it contributed a lot to me coming to UPA, I want to be able to help and pass on some of my knowledge to them”.
The Unicamp Open Doors (UPA) event attracts students not only from São Paulo, as is the case of Elisa Saron, who came from the city of Ouro Fino, Minas Gerais. For the first time at Unicamp, Elisa thinks the event is an opportunity to ask questions and help choose who will take the entrance exam. “I was in doubt about several professions, but now knowing more about the economics course I am sure that it is the option I will pursue.”
The general coordinator of Unicamp, professor Teresa Atvars, evaluates the new developments that are being implemented from this year at UPA as positive. “We created, in addition to today with the university open doors, the UPA all year round. With a schedule where schools can register and visit outside of that day, but also taking people from Unicamp to the schools”, explains Teresa, who highlights the change of date for the first semester. "This gives students time to make a better decision over the next few months about the profession and courses they want to pursue, creating a longer space of time between the UPA and enrolling for the entrance exam."