About this College Fair

4th Annual “Beyond High School” College Fair

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Seattle, Washington

What is “Beyond High School” College Fair?

 “Beyond High School” College fair is organized by CWAA and serves to promote means to education beyond high school, by introducing the American college recruitment tradition to members of the African immigrant and refugee communities in King County. CWAA brings the college fair closer to the targeted neighborhood and provide interpreters during the event.

Why the target group?

Due to several realized and unrealized barriers, CWAA suspects that members of African immigrant and refugee community are not as involved in college preparation events, and may feel excluded from the mainstream activities pertaining to higher education preparation. The traditional college fairs held in massive and crowded halls may appear intimidating to many of them. In addition, lack of interpreters and unfamiliar surroundings hardly facilitates an inclusive environment. We therefore believe that families from immigrant and refugee communities may look at college as a more inclusive process and a reachable goal if we bring the college fair into their community. To this effect, CWAA invites college recruiters to come to the community mostly populated by African immigrants and refugees and recruit local graduating seniors by sharing resources about their institutions.

What else can participants benefit from this College Fair?

In addition to providing the graduating seniors with college entrance information, we want to address the key issue of how college preparation should begin as early as fifth grade.  Our theme this year is “Early Preparation”. We are therefore inviting programs that focus on college preparation activities to participate in this year’s college fair. Additionally, we request college recruiters to bring financial aid information and discuss financing options and scholarship programs available in their institutions, options which directly address the target population.

Can middle school children or parents attend?

Yes! Come and learn about early preparation. CWAA encourages the entire family participation. This event provides a wonderful opportunity to open dialogue about higher education among family members, especially in households where one or both parents do not have college education. We hope to interest adults who do not have higher education to consider going to college. Further, the event provides a unique environment where families can feel at ease in asking questions with the certainty that the college representatives are in their community to specifically meet their distinctive needs. Interpreters will be available to facilitate this process.   Top

Contact

Program Coordinator 206-925-4800, collegefair2008 at cwaaUSA.org

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