UF groups to help area students prepare for future

January 14, 2011

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Will your Facebook or Twitter profile help you or hinder you from getting a job? Teens will find out the answer to this question and more through the second annual “Day in the Real World: College Edition” student conference hosted by University of Florida’s College Reach-Out Program and Students in Free Enterprise.

Registration for this year’s “Day in the Real World: College Edition” will begin at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 22 in Room G415 in the College of Education’s Norman Hall. The conference will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with sessions addressing Internet etiquette, dressing for success, entrepreneurship, academic achievement, money management and healthy relationships.

Students will participate in interactive sessions featuring a fashion show of what to wear and what not to wear for various occasions, a “real talk” session about college life with UF students, an impromptu entrepreneurship competition and more. The conference will be filled with surprises along the way, including random prizes, a tie and scarf give-a-way and student presentations.

More than 100 middle and high school students from various counties, including Alachua, Levy, Putnam and Duval, are expected to attend the conference. That’s almost double the conference attendance from last year.

“Last year we had kids learning how to tie ties and laughing so hard because they kept tying knots,” said Roberta O. Roberts, UF junior and project manager for Cropped for Success, a partnership between CROP and SIFE to create enrichment programs for CROP students. “It’s all about kids learning about real-life things they need to know and having fun while doing it, even if it’s as simple as tying a tie,” she said.

The six sessions include:
• Online Professionalism: The do’s and don’ts of social networking
• Entrepreneurship Competition: Learning how to Innovate and Initiate
• Real Talk: College Life, a diverse panel of college students ready to answer attendee questions
• Dress to Impress: College Edition, models showing what to wear for different occasions
• Healthy Relationships, presented by Teresa White of the Alachua County Health Department
• Money Management: Financial Aid, a hands-on budgeting experience

To donate ties or scarves, or for more information about the “Day in the Real World” student conference or the College Reach-Out Program, please call 352-273-4366, e-mail bwelch@coe.ufl.edu or visit www.education.ufl.edu/RRMA/crop.html.

For more information about Students in Free Enterprise, please e-mail R.Roberts@ufl.edu or visit www.ufsife.com.