Black college fair at Vallejo High draws hundreds

  • September 12, 2012
  • Vallejo Times-Standard; Lanz Christian Ba帽es; Sept. 12, 2012

By Lanz Christian Bañes

Sydney Taylor already has a plan and a dream school -- studying nursing at California State University, East Bay.

But that didn't stop the 17-year-old Vallejo High School senior from joining hundreds of other students Tuesday for the school's historically black college and university fair.

"I like to spread my net," Taylor said as she filled out an application for Dilliard University in New Orleans.

This is the second historically black college fair hosted at Vallejo High School's ninth-grade campus (formerly Vallejo Middle School).

The event is put in by the United College Action Network (U-CAN), a Sacramento-based organization that has been bringing recruiters from historically black colleges to California for the last

Jesse Bethel High School senior Karon Lewis, right, hands Lincoln University recruiter Marvin Clark his application Tuesday at a historically black college and university fair at Vallejo High School.(Lanz Christian Ba es/Times-Herald) (Lanz Christian Ba es)
19 years.

Last year in Vallejo, more than 400 students were given on-the-spot admissions, while dozens were awarded scholarships before they left the fair.

This year's data was unavailable by press time Tuesday.

"I wouldn't be where I am today without Mr. Clark," Vallejo Principal Clarence Isadore said, clapping Lincoln University recruiter Marvin Clark on the back.

Isadore was Clark's first recruit to Lincoln University back when the now 53-year-old principal was a senior at St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School.

Karon Lewis, a 17-year-old senior at Jesse Bethel High School, also spent some time talking with Clark and submitted an application for Lincoln.

"It's pretty good," Lewis said about the fair. "There's a lot of people. There's a lot of pressure, too."

Like Taylor, Lewis wouldn't mind going to a historically black college or university, but doesn't want to disregard other schools as well.

"You get a lot of facts," said Lauren Taylor, a 15-year-old sophomore from Deer Valley High School in Antioch.

Isadore was a principal at Deer Valley immediately before he took his post at Vallejo.

Lauren already has two schools in mind when she's ready to start the application process in two years.

"Spelman University and Tuskegee University," Lauren said.

For more information on U-CAN, visit www.ucangotocollege.com.