GAA (Georgian Academic Abroad) hosted a university fair on October 9th at the Pullman Hotel. They introduced Georgian students to universities and colleges from all around the world. Every university had a representative who gave the students all the details about their institutions. For instance, their teaching methods, admission rates, tuition costs, scholarships, etc. However, none of the representatives spoke Georgian. Considering this, Juniors from GZAAT volunteered to be their translators and help the representatives and visitors interested in various universities communicate. Besides that, GAA also needed general volunteers who could help people with orientation and finding the universities of their interest and leaders in charge of all the other volunteers.
To get a better insight into the fair, interviewers questioned Juniors from GZAAT, who attended and helped with the fair. Natalia Sulukhia, one of the leaders, says she controlled the group of volunteers to which she was assigned. “It was my responsibility to help them get breaks, get lunch, and help them out with anything they needed.” She tells the interviewer that she was also in charge of the shifts and, as the other volunteers claim, she did a perfect job and was always there when someone needed them. The good thing is that Natalia also had the chance to interact with the visitors and relax for a short time. She says she really enjoyed having small talks with people from different countries, during which they discussed not only universities but also their backgrounds and cultures. Even though the fair was very productive and exciting, it still seemed to tire the leaders out, but at least they still went home with the visitors’ gifts!:)
The second person who was interviewed was a general volunteer - Barbare Motsonelidze. Having a position as a general volunteer means that Barbare helped the visitors to find the universities they were looking for and the ones they were interested in. Along with other volunteers, she guided the guests throughout the room, and university stands from various countries. As she says, it was an extremely lovely, engaging, and fun experience, and she wishes to have an opportunity like that again.
Last but not least, Ana Kharabadze, the translator at the fair, was also questioned by the interviewers. Ana was assigned explicitly to Heriot-Watt University from the UK. Her job was to answer questions asked by visitors in Georgian as they came up to her table. She also helped the guests fill out the papers, which allowed them to get all the updates from that specific university through their email. “Even though the event was interesting, it needed a lot of work and I was very tired at the end of the fair, especially considering that their lunch periods were pretty short. Still, I enjoyed my time there and would be glad to be a part of this kind of event again.” - says Ana to the interviewers.
It seems that the GAA university fair left Juniors from GZAAT pretty satisfied with how the fair turned out. Also, it shouldn’t go unnoticed that around 2000-3000 visitors attended this gathering at the Pullman Hotel, while 30 volunteers from our school assisted most of them. These types of events are helpful to the volunteers as well as for the visitors because not only do they receive a certificate, but they also gain and improve essential skills, such as communication and management. Let’s hope that there will be more fairs like this in the future!:)
Edited by Nino Ioseliani
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