Record numbers attend Kaiserslautern's College Night Published Oct. 20, 2008 By Christine June U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany -- Friends had told Col. Tina Harvey, with the 3rd Air Force on Ramstein Air Base, about how big of deal College Night was here. Still, it took her by surprise. "Unbelievable," said Colonel Harvey, who was there with her two teenage sons. "What diversity - all the service academies were represented as well as some high-powered academic institutions like Harvard and Duke (universities), and the whole gamut like the New York Film Institute was there as well - there was something for everybody." A record number of 1,631 students, parents and teachers attended the Ramstein High School and U.S Army Garrison Kaiserslautern's College Night held Oct. 16 at the Special Events Center on Rhine Ordnance Barracks. "There has been a steady stream of people so far - if that continues, we may see quite an increase from last year," said Greg Hatch, the RHS principal, less than an hour into the three-hour event. Last year's numbers was about 1,200. More than 75 Bitburg High School students attended the event. Close to 200 representative from 110 accredited college and universities, as well as scholarship and financial agencies from the U.S. and Europe were there at the event. Colonel Harvey made an amusing observation of the event, "All the children were hanging out at the college booths, while all the parents were hanging out at the scholarship booths." This is the 12th year that the Kaiserslautern military community as hosted the event with the two high schools here - Kaiserslautern and Ramstein - rotating sponsorship. This is the second year that the garrison has co-sponsored the event alongside the schools. One of the many benefits of this partnership is this location on ROB, which is more than double the size of either school's gym - the previous locations for the college nights here. Joumana Hassan, the international admissions counselor for the American University of Paris, has been coming to College Night here for four years, and she prefers the new location. "Its better here than where it was before because it's easier to talk to students. I see many more students than before," she said. "They are also more interested and informed." Planning for College Night starts around May of the previous school year and takes the collected dedication of garrison and KMC school staffs, members from parent teacher organizations, school liaison officers and community volunteers.