On Saturday, February 23, 2013, Oakville (Ontario) Public Library held the Real Life University & College Fair, the fourth of its kind since 2010. As I told one of my colleagues, “I love my job because of events like this and all the amazing young adults with whom I get to work!” I know that many of you share this very sentiment, too. The teen programs held at the Oakville Public Library are developed in many different ways. A program may be based on ideas generated by our Teen Advisory Group (TAG) or it may be something that has run successfully in the past, like the annual Write2Xpress contest and awards night. Some have even been based on suggestions from teens who fill out the evaluation forms after workshops and events. One member of the community thought a workshop on Financial Literacy would be a great addition to our slate of programming. TAG and I agreed, and that workshop will be taking place later this spring. The Real Life University & College Fair was a little different. It came about after I overheard a conversation between one of my pages and some of her friends. Amanda, who was graduating from high school, was telling friends about how she had called the awards office at the university where she had been accepted to learn more about the deadlines surrounding tuition payment when dealing with financial assistance. The information wasn't available on the school’s website, and Amanda wanted to pass it along to fellow students who were  heading to the same school in the fall. I realized that there were likely other pieces of information other students needed to know before heading off to university or college that they wouldn’t learn from a campus visit or at a university fair with official school reps. For example, would you ever consider that you might want to change banks if the bank machines on campus are from a different bank and campus is at least 20 miles away from the closest city?

Getting all the important details from post-secondary students

So the Real Life Fair was born—a forum for high school students to meet current university/college students to learn what life is really like at school. The draw for high school students is that they'll have the chance to speak with current post-secondary students, learn more about their choices, and get the scoop on the realities of residence life, professors and programs, the registration process, and much more. To maintain my talent pool, I stay in touch with graduating pages and TAG members, and ask them and their friends to participate with the promise of a pizza lunch and my undying gratitude. This year, we added a chance to win one of five $25 gift cards for Tim Hortons, a favorite coffee shop with locations on many campuses across Canada.

Erica, right, talks to high school students about residence life

Our first fair in June of 2010 boasted a grand total of just over a dozen participants, including university and high school students and the occasional parent stopping in to see what we were all about. Once we moved the fair to February during Reading Week (the Canadian equivalent of Spring Break), numbers began to climb as more university and college students were available. Since high school students had yet to hear if they were accepted to the schools to which they had applied, their interest still remained high. This year, our fair attracted a whopping 71 participants, which included students from universities both within commuting distance like York and University of Toronto, McMaster in Hamilton, Sheridan College (Oakville Campus), and from more distant locales, such as Carleton and University of Ottawa, McGill in Montreal, and St. Mary’s University in Halifax. It was like the United Nations of post-secondary community. Needless to say, I can't wait for the 2014 Real Life University! Elise C. Cole is the teen services librarian for the Oakville Public Library, a six location library system serving Oakville (population 182,520) just outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.