TEEN GRID -- More than 175 students visited the world’s first virtual college fair, hosted by the Eye4U Alliance on Second Life’s Teen Grid.

Eye4You Alliance is a partnership between the Alliance Library System and the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County in North Carolina, USA.

More than 20 colleges set up booths on the Eye4You Alliance sim. Representatives from colleges such as Johnson and Wales, University of Kentucky, and organizations such as Amazon, NASA, Squirrleverse, Vision Network, and Linden Lab were on hand to answer questions. The theater played college recruitment videos.

Glasissas Steenbock, a teen grid resident from England, spoke with pride Sunday after witnessing the event’s success. “We got the top visitors for those two days of anywhere on the grid. Many listened and really learned some great lessons. we did something that just isn't possible in most schools.”
Steenbock added, "I got to speak to people from all over the world, which I couldn't do in my current school. One small step for Second Life, a major step for teens.”

Kelly Czarnecki, the education librarian behind the SL avatar Bluewings Hayek, whose island hosted the event, said, “It made so much sense to build a community between teens and colleges in an environment where they could both come together across the world, to ask and answer questions, share ideas, and gain knowledge about college programs and careers. Teens put in so much work to make the fair possible and it was their idea in the first place to have such an event.”

The fair also saw the launch of the Eye4You Alliance Teen Scholarship program which aims to raise money to fund teens for college courses. Donations may be sent to Bluewings Hayeka on the main grid, or Saryn Eye4You on the teen grid.

Teen Grid residents worked hard to advertise the event and organize a group of greeters during the fair. The event also held a raffle, in which L$4000 (or about $14 U.S.) was split among five winners. The funds were donated by Eye4You Alliance, Squirrleverse and Vision Network. The winners are listed below, along with the winners of a survey in which teens voted for the best booths and speeches during the weekend.

Best Booth:
1st – University of North Carolina
2nd - TSL Greeters
3rd - University of Kentucky

Best Speech Saturday:
1st - Amazon
2nd - NASA
3rd - Linden Lab

Best Speech Sunday:
1st - NASA
2nd - Tech Careers
3rd - TSL Greeters

Raffle:
1st L$2000 – Mrc Homewood
2nd L$1000 - Shadowdemon14 Otsuka
3rd L$500 - Nicholas Hawthorne
4th L$300 - Trinton Carter
5th L$100 - Jeroen Waisman