As the day came to a close and evening approached, the campus quad was filled with high schoolers visiting tents advertising different programs, departments and student services. Food was set up, music began playing and Buzzy the Hornet made an appearance.
The Promise Program, which provides two years of free tuition to eligible first-time college students, has organized the FC Night event since 2018. The event promotes their service and programs to possible first-time students and their families to higher education opportunities.
In the past, FC Night only invited one high school district that Fullerton College partnered with. Now, it extends its welcome to all outer and inner-city districts. A similar event called Family Night has been organized since 2013 but it was given a new name after five years.
Valerie Salazar, Interim Director of Educational Partnerships and Programs, has helped organize the event since 2018.
“This year we were able to welcome more students from outside districts and more students were able to participate with our outreach effort, ” said Salazar. “For all first time college students we got to have more programs participate this year. We have academic divisions. We have career education programs and then student service programs.”
Several dozen tents were set up to answer questions about majors and services they offered. One tent was even a DJ. An hour into the event, the new Fullerton College cheerleading team did a routine to demonstrate their new skills since the sport was brought back last semester by Vicki Calhoun, Former Cheerleader and Alumni. Some of the most crowded booths were the arts, the Math Engineering Science Achievement, known as MESA and administrative justice.
Maya Gonzalez, a student from California High School in Whittier, was particularly interested in the administrative justice tent.
“I want to become a forensic scientist and ever since I was little I’ve always loved watching crime mysteries and shows,” said Gonzalez.
Gonzalez plans to transfer to UC Davis after Fullerton College to pursue a bachelor’s in administrative justice.
The night ended with some last minute games to hand out some T-shirts and shout out to everyone who attended. As high school students left, they took an experience that would make an impact in their higher education.
