Hanane Messid, 13, arrived at the Bronx High School Fair set on visiting three Bronx schools that offer a good background in math and science — Pelham Preparatory Academy, Collegiate Institute for Math and Science, and Astor Collegiate Academy.
But finding those schools’ booths wasn’t easy at the fair at the Theodore Roosevelt Educational Campus. “It was really hot and crowded,” Messid said. “People everywhere.”
Hanane and her father, Kaddour, an Algerian immigrant who speaks little English, inched along with the crowd and eventually found the booth for each of the three schools she is interested in.
When she came upon Pelham Preparatory Academy, her first-choice school, she smiled and signed a form for interested applicants. That signature would give her priority in selection, she said.
Messid, of Morris Park, said she needs a high school that will surround her with dedicated classmates.
“I want a good school that doesn’t have many fights and stuff,” she said.
Messid, who wants to become a doctor, said her priority in high school is her studies. But she is also worried about losing her middle-school friends who go to other high schools.
“I’m a little scared, because I don’t know what’s going to happen after that,” she said.
Rachael Levy is a student at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.