KIMBERLY BELLAMY
Tarboro will be filled with students eager to find out if they have a chance at post-secondary education at the ninth annual College Round-Up Saturday.
The event starts at 9 a.m. at Edgecombe Community College, but participants are encouraged to arrive early for registration and bring a copy of their transcript.
College Round-Up traditionally invites Historically Black Colleges and Universities, but this year they are opening up event to HBCUs and other educational institutions.
More than 30 schools have committed to being in attendance, including East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine, Chowan College, Barton College and N.C. Wesleyan College.
"We've been getting calls from all the counties in the state," said Fay Smith, program director of College Round-Up that was founded by Bob Whitehead who is battling cancer.
One of the advantages to the program is the opportunity for students to slide pass paying an application fee in a time when many are suffering from the economic circumstances of the county and state.
"A lot of parents and students are waiting for the College Round-Up to apply so they don't have to pay that fee," Smith said.
Smith said many students have been offered on-the-spot acceptance and scholarships on the day of the College Round-Up.
In addition to admissions counselors speaking with students about their institutions, career professionals in the fields of law, medicine, finance, construction and others will be on site to provide students with insight on professions in those fields and internships.
Smith said this component was added to the program to give students a leg-up on other students once entering school.
"Having a degree and that education is fine, but you need other things to supplement," she said.
"The response from that has been overwhelming. It will be a networking mechanism for them."
Participants have the opportunity to gather information from featured speaker Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Takoma Park, Md.
Makhijani is the author of numerous publications regarding environmental and energy related issues. He made appearances on "ABC World News Tonight," "CBS Evening News," "60 Minutes," NPR, CNN, BBC and testified before Congress.
"It's just going to be a wealth of knowledge under one roof," Smith said.
Throughout the duration of the program, Smith said that more than 800 students have benefited from the resources offered at the event.
Alexis Taylor of Charlotte, a Hampton, Va., native, is one of those students that the program helped.
"I wanted to go to college, but I really didn't have the grades to attend college and I knew I wanted to attend a HBCU so I attended the College Round-Up," Taylor said.
During her 2001 visit to the College Round-Up, the program's first year, she was admitted to Livingstone College in Salisbury, graduated with a 3.1 GPA and earned a master's degree in criminal justice from South University. Taylor is now a clinical supervisor for Miracle House Inc. in Charlotte.
"If it wasn't for College Round-Up, I would have never known of Livingstone and I probably would have stayed at home and attended a community college," Taylor said.
"I believed that leaders, believers and achievers always set the path for others to follow, and thats just what the founders of College Roundup have done for me and will do for others that attend."
