WS Chronicle

Photo by Tevin Stinson

BY TEVIN STINSON 

THE CHRONICLE

While most of the campus of Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) was vacant last Saturday morning because of spring break, inside the Anderson Center local high school students from across the Triad got a taste of college life while attending the ASCEND Career fair.

ASCEND, which stands for Achievement, Self-Awareness, Communication, Engagement, Networking and Developmental, is a free program offered by Alpha Kappa Alpha chapters across the country to motivate, engage, and assist high school students to reach their maximum potential.

The ASCEND program is also geared toward making sure students look at HBCUs (Historic Black Colleges and Universities) when making their college choices. Beth Day-Harrison, associate chair of education at WSSU and member of the Phi Omega AKA Chapter, said, “It was just natural that we have these events here at Winston-Salem State.

“We want to make sure our students know that there are great things going on at HBCUs,” Day-Harrsion said.

During the event, students had the opportunity to interact with professionals in several fields, including education, law enforcement, medicine, higher education and several STEM careers, and business owners, many of which graduated from a HBCU.

Following the event, several students said the career fair opened their eyes to careers they never had thought about before. Eryn Murray, a 10th grader at Winston-Salem Christian School, said although she isn’t sure what career path she will take but she really enjoyed talking with professionals.

R.J. McNeille, a student at Atkins High School, said although he had his doubts about coming to the fair, once he got there and went into few sessions, he began to enjoy himself.

“I really didn’t want to be here today but once we started to go into the classrooms and learn about the different professions and college choices, I knew I made the right decision.”