This year?s College Fair is led by Tory Dodge, an Educational Consultant and International Event Planner, affiliated with Benedict Associates Ltd. in Hamilton.

Ms Dodge, pictured right, explains her role: ?My services provide educational consulting and placement consultation designed to guide students and their families in making the important choices of traditional boarding school, junior boarding school, specialised boarding schools and programmes, post secondary/young adult programmes and summer camp and enrichment experiences.

?Another service is the hosting of boarding school and camp fairs which I have been doing here in Bermuda for the past eight years.?

Last year a guidance counsellor in Bermuda informed Ms Dodge that there was a need for a college level fair in the fall so she took it on.

Ms Dodge began her 30 year career as an educator in the American Peace Corps in Ethiopia. Upon returning to the United States she continued to work in education filling the role of teacher, admissions director and Head of a junior boarding school (from kindergarten to eighth grade).

At the secondary level she held the position of admissions director and for the past ten years has been a Marketing and Admissions Consultant to over 60 boarding schools in America and Canada.

She holds a Bachelor?s Degree from the University of Denver, graduate level coursework in counselling, 25 years of conference attendance and has visited over 250 traditional schools, special needs and postgraduate programmes.

Ms Dodge is a member of The Independent Educational Consultants Association.

Explaining about the college fair to be held November 18 and 19, she says: ?This college fair is designed to create a bridge to the world of academic opportunity available to Bermudian students.?

Students from all of the high schools on the Island have been invited to attend and a special parent evening with a question and answer panel will be held on Wednesday evening.

?This is an opportunity for the colleges to inform the parents of what a college education can do for their child?s future, how much will it cost, how it can be funded, how they can best prepare their students for this big step.?

She advises the college fair will provide the parents with a venue to ask any questions that they may have about the college enrolment process in general, school philosophy, and discipline .

This session will be followed by the fair itself with access to information and college representatives.

When asked about her philosophy on college education she responded: ?There are many different types of post secondary education.

?With over 3,000 programmes in the United States alone it can be daunting.

?With this college fair we have brought together a sampling of the different types of schools available.?

?We have a ?gap? year sailing programme, two year colleges, career colleges, four year liberal arts, colleges with emphasis on the arts and graduate level universities.?

She believes that In this competitive world a post-secondary degree, whether it is for a specific career path or liberal arts, demonstrates to a perspective employer that you have initiative, excellent problem solving skills, and willingness to tackle the challenge of life long learning.

?We hope this event will broaden young Bermudians? awareness of and accessibility to these life expanding opportunities.?

Sarah Norfleet, Director of Development for the Chamberlain School in Middleboro, Massachusetts is assisting Ms Dodge with this event.