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Katherine and I headed to College Night last night at the Bakersfield Convention Center. It is time - she is a Junior at East Bakersfield High School and this is the big year as I remember it.

It was chaos but we created structured chaos, mapping out the schools she was the most interested in visiting. We had a game plan and off we went.

She is in AVID at EB, a program primarily for students who are first generation college goers in their family. This doesn't apply to Katherine, but thankfully she is attending anyway - and Jenna Odlin, the teacher, gave them an assignment which required she actually speak to the representatives.

This was good for Katherine to do. It made her go beyond just picking up brochures and moving along. She has poise, she has ambition and she also has a tendency to be shy. I watched her confidence increase with each representative she spoke with last night.

We also attended a seminar about applying and being accepted to competitive universities. As of this moment Katherine's first choice is Smith College, but when we visited with the woman at Mills College (where my Grandmother was an alumna) she also suggested Mount Holyoke, where she attended and is not far from Smith.

She also confirmed Bryn Mawr is still all women.

We were also both impressed with University of San Francisco - one of the few California Schools in the running. One of my dear friends just started the Performing Arts and Social Justice program.  Doesn't that sound like something right up my alley?

I wish I could have had a photo when the rep actually mentioned the dollar amounts for the merit scholarship. Whittier gives full rides, all four years. I keep telling her between her GPA, her extracurricular activities and her Leadership abilities and the fact that all her teachers adore her.... she has a shot at the best schools who will actually compete for HER.

Finally - since _the Professionals_ are saying it, she believes me.