Eager college students came to the Schoening Conference Room in droves, and future students pulled up out front in school buses that came from around the Arizona Western College district.

For the second year in a row, AWC hosted the Majors Fair on campus. The Nov. 6 event gave students an ideal opportunity to get information not only on institutional degrees and certificates but also on some of the in-state universities and on other topics regarding their future education.

"The main purpose of the Majors Fair is to inform AWC students and prospective students about all the different academic programs," says Mel Parker, Career Services coordinator at AWC. "Ando they can also find out a lot of things they might not have thought about like scholarships and financial aid."

The Majors Fair had many quick stops related to some of the most popular programs at AWC, like Nursing, Culinary Arts, Administration of Justice and Massage Therapy. Many non-academic departments -- like Financial Aid, the AWC Foundation and Career Services -- made themselves a part in the event as well.

Programs like KEYS and CAMP, and student organizations like the Philosophy and Math clubs used the occasion to recruit students and explain the various opportunities they had to offer.

"I believe I helped students today," says Student Support Services Coordinator Kenia Rodriguez, who ran the KEYS Program booth, one of the popular at the event.

"There were many students who didn't even know about certain programs," Rodriguez added, "and I had the opportunity to guide them to those programs as well as inform them about mine."

Some attendees even had suggestions for improving the activity in future years.

"They could bring workers from different companies like an engineer or an actor or a nurse," said AWC student, Rene Prado. "That would be very interesting, for students to talk to someone who is already in the field of work."

Another suggestion came from Janae Gregstln, admissions counselor for the University of Arizona, who had a booth representing the UofA and its available majors: "This is a really well organized activity, but maybe if it were advertised more, many more students could show up and take advantage of the opportunities being given."

Overall, many AWC and high school students benefited from the event.

"We had a good turnout this year," said Parker. "Many high school students came out, but I would like to see more of our students here and taking advantage of this opportunity."

Students can never have too much information regarding their future opportunities, which is why events like these are so necessary.

Photos by Karla Aguilar and Nicholas Canaday