The Weekly Newspaper of Torrance Herald Publications - Torrance, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 5, No. 8 - February 19, 2015 Inside This Issue Business Briefs....................2 Certified & Licensed Professionals.....................10 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Legals....................................9 Police Reports.....................3 Politically Speaking............5 Real Estate.........................12 Sports....................................6 TerriAnn in Torrance..........8 Weekend Forecast The view of El Prado Avenue from Sartori Avenue. Photo by Osvin Suazo, oqoimages@gmail.com. Friday Partly Cloudy 65˚/54˚ Saturday Mostly Sunny 65˚/56˚ Sunday Mostly Sunny 66˚/53˚ View Down a Leafy Avenue West High to Host Annual College and Career Counselors Fair By Cristian Vasquez On Saturday, Feb. 21 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. students from the entire Torrance Unified School District are invited to attend College Fair 2015 at the West High School gym, located at 20401 Victor St. The 2015 College Fair, sponsored by the Torrance Council of PTAs and Torrance Unified School District, brings together the district’s students with college representatives from all over the country. “We have a list that we use every year [to organize event] and most of the people on the list are local people who are alumni and come to represent their school,” Torrance Council PTAs President Janet Tajii said. “However, this year we for the first time each high school will have a college and career counselor on site. We have actually used them as a resource since they have connections to a lot of the colleges all over the country. So we got a lot of contacts from them for people to invite to the college fair and represent their schools.” Tajii has been president for two years and was president of the West High School PTA last time the college fair was hosted at West High. All together she has been at six college fairs and has experienced how beneficial the event is to the city’s students. “A lot of it we are gearing toward the sophomores, juniors and seniors at the high schools but there are a lot of middle school kids that come,” Tajii said. “We want to expose them to the idea of college and let them know that there are so many different options. There is not just UCLA, and El Camino or Cal State Long Beach. There are so many schools all over the country and this is really to get them exposed and have them start thinking about their options.” The Torrance Council of PTAs is a collaborative effort between the cities four high schools, eight middle schools, one preschool and 17 elementary schools. All PTAs, or unit as they are referred to, is dedicated to providing “leadership training, coordination of the efforts of the units, cooperation in promoting the common interests of the units and conference regarding common problems.” The 2015 College Fair is just one example of the type of work that the Torrance Council of PTAs engages in for the benefit of students. “This is only the second year that I have been president of the organization that runs it,” Tajii said. “This fair runs for four hours but last year we printed 500 programs and ran out of them about half way through the event.” This year there will be an estimated 80-100 representatives from different colleges, universities, trade schools and from the military. In addition there will be test preparation organization representatives available to answer questions. Along with the information booths and large number of representatives, there will be information seminars for students who decide to attend. “We have about 15 to 20 seminars that take place in the classrooms throughout the day,” Tajii said. “The seminars include topics such test prep, scholarships, topics such as the arts or technology. It all depends on what the college reps who will host seminars on several topics. It is mostly booths and reps but it is such a variety that the students can walk around and pick and choose who they want to talk to.” There will be three sessions of seminars that run 45 minutes each. In addition, there are four seminars during each session, which students can pick from based on a schedule that will made available. Representatives at the event will have additional information available to students and parents regarding their institution. Unlike past years, the 2015 College Fair this year’s College and Careers Counselors from the high schools will be assisting with the event. “We do have a table where there will be high school counselors available to answer questions from the students,” Tajii said. “Usually there are three counselors and if students have questions they can go there and ask.” The college fair is open to everybody, it is free and no reservations required. Persons interested or with additional questions can visit http://torrancecouncilofptas.org, email College Fair Chairman Martha Deutsch at CollegeFair@tusd.org or at torrancecouncilofptas @gmail.com or by calling (310) 720-3893. •
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