Students admitted to college, offered scholarships at first-of-its-kind college recruitment fair in SF

Laura Dudnick | SF Examiner

Mission High School senior Demerius Durham smiled modestly yet excitedly as he clutched a cellphone to his ear at a first-of-its-kind college recruitment fair in San Francisco on Monday.

"Dad, guess what?" the 17-year-old student said into the phone. "I got $30,000 in scholarships from one college."

Durham's acceptance into South Carolina's Benedict College -- which he achieved by presenting his transcripts and filling out an application -- was among dozens of on-the-spot admissions offered Monday at 32 schools in the U.S. as part of The City's first Historically Black College Recruitment Fair sponsored by the United College Action Network.

The recruitment fair -- established in 1999 by the nonprofit U-CAN to assist students in attending historically black colleges and universities -- will reach about 1,000 students at each of its 12 stops in California and Nevada on its 14-day tour this month, said Alan Rowe, who founded U-CAN with his wife, Donna, in 1988.

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