Twitter
Facebook
As he weaved through the crowd, Alex Tremble kept referring to his list. He was shopping at College Night for his 16-year-old daughter Alexis who was home sick.
Kaiserslautern High School and U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern’s College Night was held Oct. 8 at the garrison’s Special Events Center on Rhine Ordnance Barracks.
“My job as the dad is to come out here and pick up information from the schools she has whittled down to; she started out with about 50 schools,” said Mr. Tremble, who is the Drug Demand Program manager on Ramstein. “She’s been doing her homework over the last couple of years, and now she is down to five schools.”
A one-stop shopping for higher education bonanza, College Night offers all Department of Defense Dependents Schools-Europe high school students and their parents a chance to get first-hand knowledge about colleges and universities,
scholarships and financial assistance.
Mr. Tremble was one of 1,132 people who attended this year’s College Night. Also shopping for their futures were students, parents, guidance counselors and teachers from international and DODDS schools throughout Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
“Alexis and I have been going to College Night here for about five years now,” Mr. Tremble said as he continued to search for the University of Connecticut.
When he was unable to find University of Connecticut’s table, Mr. Tremble doubled back and checked one of the boards listing all the universities and colleges –– more than 100 – represented at this year’s event.
“It says Connecticut should be right here,” he said just as he turned and looked right into the eyes of Staff Sgt. Meredith Healy, an alumna of the University of Connecticut’s graduate school stationed on Sembach. Mr. Tremble asked Sergeant Healy questions from a list provided by his daughter, making sure to hit each one.
“I really enjoy talking to students and their parents about their futures and what is available and just getting to know what they are looking for,” said Sergeant Healy, who added this was the second year she has represented the University of Connecticut at College Night.
Representatives at this year’s College Night were a mixture of university staff from the United States and alumni living in Europe. There were also representatives from scholarship and financial assistance agencies and military recruiters.
Answering Mr. Tremble’s questions, Sergeant Healy gave him several brochures about the university, its programs and enrollment procedures.
Later in the evening, Mr. Tremble passed by several scholarship tables where other attendees could be seen carrying college or scholarship information either in their hands and under their arms or in bags provided by many of the representatives. Though Mr. Tremble said Alexis’ college fund was started when she was young, he stops when he hears Sgt. 1st Class Craig Buchan, from the garrison’s Directorate of Human Resources, call out, “Graduating seniors – need scholarship money?”
“We gave out $12,000 last year in scholarships,” said Sergeant Buchan, who was manning the Alpha Phi Alpha Inc. table.
Most of the schools on Alexis’ shopping list were represented at this year’s College Night.
“I didn’t come here expecting to see Florida State or Connecticut, but they were here,” Mr. Tremble said. “That makes me feel good because it gives me an opportunity to sit down with my daughter and talk with her about college and how she is going to pick the one that she’s going to and make that decision as a family.”
