First Evening Resource Fair

Students have access to a wide variety of services at Santa Monica College to help them as they progress through college here.

Students who take classes at night may have trouble finding out exactly what the services are. The offices of these services are closed at this time of the day.

On Thursday along the walkway next to the Library the Twilight Resource Fair was held.

The idea to have the fair was created by Tasneem Noor, Associated Students director of student services. This fair was different from the prior ones because it was held during the evening hours.

Noor's goal for having the resource fair at night is that she wanted to target the evening students who attend classes at night.

She knows how easy it is to overlook the students who come for classes at night because the activity hour is held during the day.

"I had students saying 'I'm an evening student. What can you offer me,'" Noor said. "This got me thinking as to what I can do for them."

The fair started at 5 p.m. Not many students came to the fair. Despite the low turnout Noor is positive about the fair going on.

"As long as students - 1,10, or 100 - are benefitting, then I'm happy," said Noor.

The few students who did come out believe they were able to obtain valuable information from the few tables.

"I learned some things from the Latino Center, and the Health Center," said Carlos Martinez. "I came because I am a night student a thought it was a good idea to come and check it out."

Tables lined the path of the Resource Fair. They were stacked back to back without a gap between them. Unfortunately only half the tables were occupied.

"I think it would have been better if more organizations came out," said Hala Mohammad, a commissioner of the director of student services.

The organizations, which set up displays on the tables, consisted of several services.

The Health Center at SMC had a table and was passing out condoms and information about sexually transmitted diseases.

Azzy Ghanooni, a representative from Dr. Malidardashti, was also there. "I am here at SMC trying to inform students about our free services," said Ghanooni.

The Black Collegians, The Latino Center, and other organizations that are on the campus, were also present."This fair gave an opportunity for evening students to see what services exist," said Farrah Mirvaee, who was the representative for the Black Collegians.

"There is definitely plenty of information for students to get on the right track," said Raymond Reyes, a journalism major. "The people at the Transfer Center were very friendly and they took the time to answer all of my questions."