Worthing HS senior Erica Lee proudly displays her preliminary acceptance card from Alabama A&M University.

When Erica Lee arrived at the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s College Expo on March 13, she had no firm plans about where she planned to pursue higher education.

Now, the Worthing High School senior has at least one preliminary offer of acceptance, thanks to the care she took in preparing for the event.

“I was wanting to go to Lamar University,” explained Lee, who ranks in the top 10 percent of her class and plans to study nursing. “But I didn’t have any scholarships yet. After talking to Alabama A&M, it sounded like a really good school to go to. And they said I could contact them and talk about it (the possibility of obtaining financial aid).”

Lee was granted preliminary acceptance that day by Alabama A&M University recruiter Nicole Herring, in part because she brought enough copies of her high school transcript to give one to every recruiter she spoke with.

“A lot of students were really on point this year,” noted Herring. “They came prepared with their transcripts and test scores. Sometimes, you send off to a college and it can be weeks before you hear anything back, so when we can let them know right away, we do. It generates a lot of excitement.”

About 1,100 students from Houston-area schools attended the event, and almost 800 of them were from HISD.

Other HISD students who received on-the-spot preliminary acceptance from Alabama A&M include: Donyae Kelly and Jasmyne Morris (Yates HS); Tyrie Jenkins and Aaron Jones (Lamar HS); Jacqueline Gonzalez, Xavier Ruben, Darrell Scott, and Sha’Dedria Thomas (Madison HS);  and Jashae Brandon, Granisha Holmes, Chayonna McGruder, and Vishal Sodagar (Washington HS).

There are still plenty of other ways for HISD seniors to attend college. For information about potential scholarships, see this HISD resource page.