The Black Student Fund/Latino Student Fund School Fair is a Washington, D.C. tradition dating back decades. In 2020, it went virtual for the first time and it was a success.
BSF/LSF School Fair faces COVID challenges in 2020 to host its most popular annual school fair. How did they conquer? “Covid dealt us lemons, so we made lemonade.”
The Virtual School Fair offers families of Black and Latinx backgrounds an equal opportunity to explore independent schools and in return offers independent schools exposure to a larger audience.
BSF is a nonprofit organization with over 50 years of experience providing financial assistance and support services for African American students and their families within the Washington DC metropolitan area. BSF works within the K-12 space creating educational opportunities and choices for families to explore independent schools.
LSF is devoted to providing free support and academic assistance to Latinx students and their families within the Washington DC metropolitan area. LSF offers scholarships, tutoring, mentoring programs and high school college preparatory for to students from K-12. ABOUT THE BSF/LSF SCHOOL FAIR
“For many schools this was their first Virtual Event. Schools have learnt from this experience on how to do things with online with technology.”
When COVID hit, it’s no secret that live events were significantly impacted. There was and remains much uncertainty regarding how to move forward. Big decisions are forced to be made quickly, and BSF/LSF was no exception.
“This year because of COVID we panicked, and we decided in March to look at a virtual option” - Mr. Nesbitt
With Mr. Nesbitt’s anticipation that many people would be “zoomed out,” he hoped for a platform that was first class and upscale to host his event. During a conversation with a college executive colleague, Mr. Nesbitt learned how companies like Nextech AR were helping colleges leverage technology to provide virtual learning experiences as intricate as organic chemistry courses and labs. Mr. Nesbitt’s curiosity increased, and with Nextech AR in mind, his search to find a solution began. Mr. Nesbitt viewed a demo with Nextech AR’s President Paul Duffy and immediately knew this was it.
“When I described what Nextech AR could do, people did not believe me!” - Mr. Nesbitt.
He arranged another demo this to showcase Nextech AR to his team. As soon as they experienced the demo, it was a done deal.
Families, independent schools and BSF/LSF were satisfied with the outcome of the event. In fact, in many ways going virtual helped with the shortcomings of live event, such as the issue with some schools being more popular than others. At the live event the popular schools’ booths are very crowded, making difficult for all families to engage with them. Virtually, there was not such a discrepancy between the booths’ popularity, providing an equal opportunity for families to engage with the various schools.
The biggest highlight of the Mr. Nesbitt’s experience was the look of the booths.
They [the booths] were spectacular for people. However, the biggest WOW for me is the production stream presentations. Because it’s like a T.V. show. It played classic… it wasn’t just ‘zoom’”
The BSF/LSF School Fair Site Was Formed With:
60+ exhibit booths
Networking
Agenda
Live streaming with moderator and ask questions feature
Resource Library
Workshops with special speakers
Sponsors
My name is Angeles Reza, I had the opportunity to attend the BSF/LSF school fair. My experience at the BSF/LSF school fair was great, my daughters and I had the opportunity to ask questions of the different high schools where my daughters are interested in applying. We liked the way in which the staff of most of the schools answered our questions and they, like us, were happy to be present virtually. In general, it was very easy to access the meetings, the instructions were very simple. Thanks to the school fair my daughters have made the decision which schools to apply for high school.”
Watch and listen what participants said about this event - CLICK HERE!
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