Hundreds Turn Out For Q House College Fair

Hundreds of city teens got a chance to apply to colleges in-person in Dixwell — thanks to a Q House youth-led push to center the voices and needs of young New Haveners.

That college fair took place in the Q House community center’s gym at 197 Dixwell Ave. on Oct. 25.

According to the event’s organizers — including Higher Heights Youth Empowerment Program Founder and Executive Director Chaka Felder-McEntire, Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison, and Q House Youth Council Youth Director Xavier Jones, Youth Chair Kate Kim, and college intern Eliana Cortez — the fair saw 500 New Haven and Hamden high school seniors fill the gym.

They got to apply to and talk with representatives from 40 different colleges spanning Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, and Florida. 

Felder-McIntyre said that 10 students received on-the-spot college acceptances last Wednesday, including five who received scholarship funds from Albertus Magnus College, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Moravian University, and Post University.

Also tabling at the event were Cornell Scott Hill Health Center, the New Haven Hiring Initiative, and the city’s police and fire departments. 

The event also was put on with the support of the Board of Education and the Hillhouse High School cheerleading team.

Jones and Kim — both of whom are 17-year-old Hillhouse High School seniors — said that the college fair was the first to take place at the reborn Q House, and the first major effort in their youth-led push to make sure New Haven high schoolers see the Dixwell community center as a place for them. 

As a place to participate in a range of after-school activities, like those at the gym or the recording studio, and to get help applying to and affording college.

“This building is what you make it. We’re trying to amplify your voices, your passion,” Jones said in his pitch to fellow New Haven high schoolers about why they should come to the Q House. The college fair was ​“the youth’s voice” put into action.

Jones and Kim are in the midst of their own college application processes, with Jones considering applying to Howard, Yale, and UConn, and Kim getting ready to send applications to Yale, Swarthmore, and Bowdoin. All as they continue working through their senior years at Hillhouse (favorite classes of the year so far: For Jones, ​“culinary,” for Kim, ​“APUSH,” or AP U.S. History). Jones is also taking a class at Yale this semester, called ​“Linguistics: Endangerment and Diversity,” and also is working at the Chick-Fil‑A in North Haven.

Last week’s college fair, Kim said, really ​“showed how much of an impact youth can have in the community.”

With the help of Felder-McEntire, Morrison, and others, the two have already put together a follow-up college-focused event — scheduled for Nov. 15 at the Q House. (See more below.)

They’re also looking for more young New Haveners to get involved with the Q House’s board, given that both Jones and Kim will be graduating from high school this year.

A college fair ​“saved my life” back in 1985, Morrison said, as she recalled traveling up to Hartford as a high school senior, running into her aunt, who was a guidance counselor, and getting encouraged to apply to Morgan State University — a HBCU in Maryland that she ultimately attended. ​“It changed the trajectory of my life.”

She praised the two young New Haveners for helping put together last week’s college fair with the hopes of changing the lives of some of the students who showed up, and encouraged fellow high schoolers to come out on Nov. 15 and sign up to participate in the Q House Advisory Board.

Click here and here for more information about events at the Q House. See below for flyers about the Nov. 15 affordable college event, and about getting involved with the Q House’s Youth Council.