AKRON, Ohio - High-achieving University of Akron applicants around the country are opening mailboxes to find boxes of coffee, sunglasses and other treats to show what makes the school - and the city of Akron - the right choice.

With a need to increase enrollment and shed the university's "school next door" image, the school partnered with Chris Horne, Unbox Akron founder and Akron's Devil Strip magazine publisher, to deliver nearly 500 Unbox Akron packages last month to prospective business college students.

The selected students have high GPAs and ACT scores, have applied and been accepted to the university, and have the prerequisite courses needed to enter the business college on day one, said Kevin Smith, director of the Institute for Leadership Advancement in the College of Business Administration.

The business school boxes were a pilot, funded through a Knight Foundation grant of $17,600.

"We are very grateful to the Knight Foundation for funding this additional outreach effort to prospective students for our highly ranked college of business administration," said University of Akron President Matthew Wilson in an email.

The next round of boxes will be funded as part of a $250,000 Knight grant to the university specifically for activities that boost the number of students attending the university, said Barbara Weinzierl, Wilson's chief of staff.

The boxes will go to 2,600 prospective students in the following schools:

The Williams Honors College

The College of Health Professions

The College of Engineering

The LeBron James family Foundation College of Education

The intent of Unbox is to show the students and their parents what Akron can offer educationally and culturally.

"There's a character of the faculty and staff at the university you just can't explain sometimes," Smith said. "Akron's a very special place and the box is about community, the uniqueness of the place and the quality of the community and its people."

The boxes are filled with items from a variety of businesses and organizations, such as samples from Akron Coffee Roasters and Jif peanut butter from Smucker's.

Each student also gets a unique URL. Once they confirm enrollment through the link, they get get free tickets to the Akron Rubberducks, free ice skating passes to Lock 3, tickets to a movie at the Nightlight Cinema, passes to the Akron Art Museum and discounts from Mr. Zub's Deli.

"The 'unbox' helps showcase many of the learning and job opportunities that are available to students because of the extensive connections the university has with area businesses," Wilson said in an email.

The outside of the business school box is covered with facts about the college of business, including its Bloomberg ranking as a top 50 public business school for the past eight years.

It also includes a welcome letter and a 360-degree video with local business leaders talking about employment opportunities. A magazine features students' stories about the moment they knew they had chosen the right university.

"It's making them feel cared for and that's what Unbox does; it's storytelling," Horne said. "If we can help them get more students, we'll help any way we can."

Response from recipients has been strong, with one student Tweeting:

Not that @uakron just sent me a care package with coffee and sunglasses 😍 these other schools slacking — Kayla (@KayRenee_14) January 24, 2017

Unbox was originally launched through Akron's first round of Knight Cities Challenge grants in 2015. Horne ran the program as a subscription service, but recently decided to discontinue it because it wasn't economically viable.

Now, he's considering working with Smith to keep Unbox going, potentially serving alumni organizations, other universities and large employers who want to welcome new hires.

"That's been some of the fun too, figuring it all out," Horne said. "It's been great having a partner on this. Kevin is the reason it worked. He's been an ambassador for the project."

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