LYNN—On Saturday, Latina Center Maria hosted the 7th College Fair at North Shore Community College. 

At the event, more than fourteen College Admissions Counselors were present, who were available to talk with parents and students about important information regarding the college application process, such as financial aid, scholarships, prerequisites. Spanish, Portuguese, and Creole interpreters were also present, going around and taking part when applicable. 

Magalie Torres-Rowe, the Executive Director and Founder of Latina Center Maria explained that the goal of the event was to be able to help make the college process smoother for first-generation immigrant students and be able to provide resources to lessen the disparities that can affect such a transition. 

“Many of these students have parents who don’t know how the education system works in the U.S.,” Torres-Rowe said. “In some countries, every college has its own SAT, for example, and it’s not about GPA.” 

This goal, she said, is in part to help lessen the information gap. And to do so by providing parents with more resources and accessible instructions that are written in multiple languages, that explain more about the college application and admissions process in the U.S. and how they can help their children through it. 

Torres-Rowe explained that this gap is harmful in many ways, including its isolating effect on students who don’t have their parents to help due to cultural and language barriers. She further mentioned that in the Hispanic immigrant community, there was a dropout rate of 14.7 percent.

This effect is more than just on the college application process. Torres-Rowe mentioned how it also impacted students’ not being able to get help on homework from their parents or their parents’ not being able to talk with teachers about students’ progress.

“I’m proof of how important this is,” Torres-Rowe said. “I’ve had 120 students every school year and they all get As and Bs because I’m bilingual.” 

She mentioned further how it was because she was able to provide parents with the resources and instructions in an accessible way, which would help the students do better in school. 

Torres-Rowe also explained the importance of her organization and the ability to teach parents English so that they can help their kids in other classes. The classes she highlighted run every Friday from 3:30 p.m. -7 p.m., specifically for moms who want to learn English. There’s a room for their children as well, that runs as a bookclub. 

Tiffany Magnolia, an English teacher at North Shore Community College, also mentioned that this was the 3rd college event hosted at NSCC because of her connection to the board of Marias. 

“It’s a Really good connection to get people from the community involved with the college,” Magnolia said. “And being able to then see it as a community recourse.” 

She mentioned further that students from the college were engaged in the event, with both ESL noncredit and credit classes there to act as translators. 

Mayor Jared Nicholson also attended. He stated the importance of the event, saying, “It’s important that everyone has access to information and opportunities and also being able to have organizations like this, to make sure there’s accessible language and multicultural constituency groups available.” He then thanked Latina Center Maria for allowing an opportunity like this today. 

“Education is key to opening any door,” Torres-Rowe said, reflecting on their mission. “It’s to help from all kinds of marginalizations.” 

To learn more about Latina Center Maria, you can visit https://latinacentermaria.org/.