On October 10, 2017, The Alcanza College Fair was held at the EagleBank Arena at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. There were 150 colleges including military organizations from in & out of state to represent. This event was for students from all grades in high school to know more if they want to go to a 2 year or 4 year public or private university. This fair wasn’t only for hispanics, it was for everyone from different high schools. Lunch was provided when the college fair is over. That day is an opportunity for students to understand before they begin and spend their college years. The event took almost the whole school day to travel at EagleBank Arena and back to high schools because of traffic or time.

Before the students start visiting representatives from different colleges/universities from in and out of Virginia, there was an opening panel for guest speakers from George Mason University(GMU) to introduce themselves and welcome students to the fair. They talk about tips on how to prepare for a 4 year university. There were questions like “What is the hardest part on applying to a 4 year college?” and “In what ways can you pay the college tuition?”. Mostly those two questions can be hard or easy for current seniors because they haven’t figure out a way to get it finished before meeting the deadline. At about 69.2 percent graduating seniors have applied and accepted into 4 year public or private universities. At the end of guest speaking, GMU counselors tell students to go and talk to many college representatives about more information.

The college fair begins, so all students went to different colleges from in and out of state to ask questions about the college. Questions for example, “How are the class sizes at JMU” and “What is the cost of the WVU application fee?”. Mostly some seniors wanted to talk to representatives from their favorite colleges and military groups. Some students still haven’t decide on what are they gonna do when they graduate after high school. The college fair was at around 11:00am-12:30pm, lasted about an 1hr/30 minutes. Some colleges are at the arena  and  the lobby floor where the concessions stands are.

When the college fair is finished, students sit back in their seating sections and back to their schools. While students are sitting down, a representative from GMU calls out all the names of high schools to be dismissed to their busses. Once all high schools are dismissed, the students grabbed the lunches that the fair provides and they start eating for 20-15 minutes. They went back to their busses and head back to their schools. Hope they learn their experience on how to get more information from the colleges and military groups, doing college requirements. The representatives told us and said “Good luck and hope you guys get admitted into one of your favorite public or private universities”.