College Fair!

This past Sunday the whole family (YES ALL 5 OF US) went to a college fair. First off we did not know how long it would take and the idea of leaving Middle Peep home with Baby Peep did not appeal to Papa and I. They have stayed home before but this was a bit far away (usually I am no more than 5-10 minutes away) and we did not know how long we would be away so into the minivan we all went. Fortunately, there was a place they could hang out at while we went from booth to booth.

I discovered a book that talks about small liberal arts colleges and while I was still reading it (and loving it), someone on my homeschool email list shared about a college fair the organization was hosting. Since I didn't know if they would be coming back to this area and I was really enjoying learning about the schools in the book, I marked the calendar and shared with Papa Peep and Oldest Peep the date.

When we arrived, we filled out a registration card. On one side it asked our name and address and what year she would be graduating. On the other side were all the colleges in attendance and we were free to check off the ones we wanted to contact us further. They had a small 30 minute information session where they introduced their organization....Colleges That Change Lives....and made us feel comfortable and relaxed about the whole process. There were over 200 people in attendance and you could tell all were anxious to get to the booths. When they opened the hall, just about everyone ran over to talk to recruiters. Oldest Peep and I hung back and tried to figure out who would be our first stop. Papa stayed back with the boys to settle them into a game on his iphone. We stopped at Agnes Scott College as we remembered them from our time in Atlanta. As soon as the recruiter said, "All girls....." she lost Oldest Peep. From there we went to The Evergreen State College.....no swim team....keep moving. We wondered some more and then settled on Kalamazoo College. Swim Team? Check! Study abroad program? Check! Languages Department? Check! So far so good! We talked to the recruiter (who did not believe I was her mom) and he really sold the school to us. We were both very impressed with what he had to share with us. From there we went to a few others she enjoyed hearing about. What we.....really she.....most learned from this is that she can stand in front of a complete stranger and share with them what she thinks she might want to study, the importance of an active and competitive swim team, and her desire to see the world and interact with it in its languages. We also learned that she needs to work on eye contact and speaking up, but I say not bad for a first time!

To be honest, I did not really prepare her beforehand. We took her without really telling her what a college fair was all about. She was nervous once she realized what it entailed since she is always pretty shy around strangers.

Job well done sweetie! And don't worry, we will have plenty of chances for you to practice over the next few years!!!