High School College Fair

Last week the local high school had its first ever College Fair, thanks to the efforts of Jamie-girl.  She managed to get representatives from 7 tertiary institutions operating in Swaziland to come and speak with all the Form 4 and 5 students (equivalent to US grades 11 and 12).  The school faculty was really pleased with the event and they now want to hold another one next academic year (hopefully the beginning of an annual thing).  The students here face challenges in getting reliable, first-hand info about their post-high school academic options, so this College Fair was very well received by them.  There were a few business/technical schools at the Fair that many students didn’t even know about—and since there’s only one university in Swaziland, those schools offer some important options. 

After the event I got a note from a student that really made our day: “Sir I don’t know where to start when telling your wife how thankful I am about the eye-opener college fair. I’m now looking forward to my future…”  So cool.  It turns out that formal and informal guidance counseling in the high school has proven to be a really valuable aspect of our work here.  Back in the US, teens and students can slip up a few times and still have some reasonable opportunities to get back on track, but here there’s just no room for error and those same little slip-ups can result in hopelessness about their future.  This student’s note was encouraging to us.