Free college fair opportunity in St. Louis available for Mid-Missouri students

Local groups are collaborating to give about 25 students a free chance to bus to a college fair in St. Louis in September - so long as students have put in the work to prepare for their futures.

Pam Murray, president of Citizens Accountability Partners, said a woman is donating the cost of a bus that seats 40 to take about 25 students and 15 chaperones to the Infinite Scholars College Fair on Sept. 22 in St. Louis.

Before that trip, the students will have to assemble packets with documents including letters of recommendation, a transcript, best ACT or SAT score report, a resume and an essay on "Why I want to attend college."

Students who don't have a business-casual outfit to wear for the fair can have one provided for them.

Murray said Citizens Accountability Partners is grateful to partner with the alumni associations of Lincoln University's Gamma Epsilon Omega chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and Omega Psi Phi fraternity to hold workshops for students to prepare.

Murray said there will be two more workshops - a resume workshop in August and the other, in late August or early September, on preparing the essay.

She said the essay can be longer for the college fair, but "as students also apply for local scholarships on their own," and those local scholarships typically have shorter length requirements, students are being encouraged to stick to about 200-250 words.

The workshops have not been scheduled yet, but those interested can stay up to date by contacting Murray via email at [email protected].

Efforts are focusing on high school students in their senior year, she said.

More than 280 college, university and military representatives will be at the fair in St. Louis.

Some schools will accept students and award scholarships on the spot, according to the Infinite Scholars Program.

The bus will be roundtrip from Jefferson City, but any Mid-Missouri student who completes their packet is welcome, Murray said.