Fall 2017 SMC College Fair

(L to R) Lincoln Middle School students Mikaila Battey, Tehut Samuel, Samantha Flores, Hinano Mann and Malek Williams on a school field trip to Santa Monica College's College Fair on the Main Campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, Calif., October 10, 2017. (Photo By: Ripsime Avetisyan/Corsair Staff)

Alice Zhang (left) and Eric Zhang (right) gather information from one of the numerous California State Universities that were in attendance for Santa Monica Colleges Annual College Fair which took place on October 10 (Photo By: Zane Meyer-Thornton)

(L to R) Lincoln Middle School students Malek Williams and Makhi Franklin on a school field trip to Santa Monica College's College Fair on the Main Campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, Calif., October 10, 2017. (Photo By: Ripsime Avetisyan/Corsair Staff)

Students fill the Santa Monica College Main Campus Quad on October 10 2017 to scope out potential schools for them to transfer to as part of Santa Monica Colleges Annual College Fair. (Photo By: Zane Meyer-Thornton)

University of Utah Representative Kena Fuller (Right) helps Santa Monica College student Claire Wang (Left) to sign up for the Business Program offered at University of Utah at the College Fair in Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, Calif., October 10, 2017. (Photo By: Ripsime Avetisyan/Corsair Staff)

Students all around Santa Monica College had their hands filled with colorful papers describing colleges from around the world as they wandered around during the biggest college fair in California from any community college. On Oct. 10, SMC hosted over 180 different schools from within the United States as well as many international schools. They ranged from the University of California systems to the Temple University of Japan.

The quad was filled with people during the event. Grace Kim, a psychology major at SMC attended and had a stack of papers from schools with her. “I really liked how there were a lot more universities and colleges than I would have expected. There were some from Rome and Pennsylvania,” Kim said. “It’s not just about schools in the U.S. which I was surprised about.”

The event is created through the transfer center on campus and aims to help students learn about different institutions. Maria Bonin is the Articulation and Transfer Specialist on campus and assists with the planning of the college fair each semester. “It’s been really busy. Students are coming over here looking for different schools. International, local, private, out-of-state, UCs. There is a lot of student attendance which is great. That is what we want.”

Jocelyn Hernandez, Political Science major visited different college booths and it helped her learn things that she wasn’t aware of. “I never really thought of U.C. Davis as an option but apparently they have no impacted majors so that was great to know.”

Students from SMC were not the only ones on campus, as middle schoolers from Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica came during an AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program field trip. Beth Palumbos DeBeech, a teacher chaperoning the 7th and 8th grade students mentioned how impressed she was “...with the number of colleges represented. It was just a short trip to expose [the students] to this wonderful experience.”

8th grade student Kennedy Brown came to see the Pepperdine booth, but enjoyed the other schools. “I learned a lot of stuff. It was fun to see all these people interested in going to other colleges and seeing people come from all around to SMC.”

The college fair is a biannual event held every Fall and Spring semester at the Santa Monica College Main Campus quad. This allows the students of the city of Santa Monica to access information about colleges from all over the world, all in one place.