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The dreary weather didn’t keep prospective students and parents away from Centennial Campus as the College of Textiles held its Open House on Saturday.

This year’s Open House put an emphasis on demonstrations and new technologies derived from research done at the College of Textiles.

Textile professors and staff planned demos for nearly every minute of the event stretching across six different areas of focus, including six different times for the most popular event — the torching of “Pyroman.”

Bryan Crolla, a junior from Athens Drive high school, explained his impression of the technical displays at the college.

“All of the labs were really interesting and ‘Pyroman’ was really cool,” Crolla said.

Students also took advantage of hands-on experiences, screen printing in particular, where the line was often nearly 30 minutes long throughout the day.

While taking tours throughout the labyrinth of labs and miniaturized plants, prospective students got the chance to see a vertically integrated system in which raw fibers were made into yarn, and then into final products.

“The cotton process was fascinating — taking the fibers and making them into finished products,” Kim Turner, a junior from Bunn high school said.

Kim’s mother, Nancy Turner, commented on her new perspective of textiles.

“I never realized how diverse the world of textiles is,” Turner said.

Students and staff who worked the event said they were impressed with the turnout and success of the Open House.

“Open House 2006 proved to be successful despite the inclement weather, and the prospective students seemed to be very enthusiastic,” Jordan Matthews, a student services representative, recruiter and graduate of the College of Textiles, said.

David Cosgrove, senior in Textile Engineering and president of the Textile Engineering Society, also commented on the enthusiasm of the visiting students and their positive impression of the school. He also explained the importance of an Open House for such a misunderstood textile field.

“Textile Open House provides an excellent chance for high school and transfer students to explore their options within the College of Textiles and discover some of the unique opportunities the field has to offer,” Cosgrove said. “It also serves as an important recruitment tool, helping to show that textiles is still a desirable field to be in.”