NBHS College and Career Fair Prepares Students for Future

Local high school students had the opportunity to plan life after graduation Thursday during a college and career readiness fair at New Bedford High School.

The fair was hosted by the high school and it's Gear Up program and featured over 70 representatives from colleges, universities, technical schools and the armed forces.

Also highlighted was financial aid assistance from the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority as well as local banks.

Gear Up's Veronica Martinez said the financial education was an important addition to help better prepare students for attending higher education.

"The financial aid component, that is a crucial part of how to get the kids there because at the end of their senior year, some students feel that they didn't know that information soon enough," Martinez said.

Max Pacheco, a senior at New Bedford High School, says it's great to have all this information together in one place.

"Senior year can be a very stressful time of wondering where you're going to go, kind of like a lot of things at once and it's just great, you don't even have to leave your school and there's this much information in front of you, it's very helpful," said Pacheco.

Many of the representatives hailed from across New England including Boston University, Brown University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Dartmouth, Boston and Lowell, and dozens of others.

Another college fair is planned at the high school for April 27th.