A bilingual school fair at the Houston Zoo on Saturday, Jan. 21 offers families a chance to gather school information and enjoy special animal interactions, all in one morning.

With representatives from more than 50 local schools in attendance, the 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. fair at the zoo’s Masihara Pavilion will give parents easy access to learning about all types of K-12 education, including preparatory academies, Catholic schools, schools designed for children with dyslexia, and the largest public school system in Texas: the Houston Independent School District. To help streamline the submission of school applications, free, one-on-one school help will be available to attendees in English and Spanish.

Besides a robust array of local schools, the event will feature a bounce house, balloon twisting, a photo booth, a DJ, and free cotton candy and popcorn for the whole family. A lucky raffle winner will even win tickets to feed giraffes.

The first 600 people in attendance will receive free admittance into the zoo, making for a complete day of fun and learning. Attending the school fair is free, but RSVPs are required at bit.ly/3GwCKFd.

This event is planned to coincide with the celebration of National School Choice Week (Jan. 22-28, 2023), which will feature tens of thousands of school choice celebrations across all 50 states. Additional flagship events in Texas include a school fair in Fort Worth and a School Discovery Day in San Antonio.

“It is an honor for the Families Empowered team to provide free bilingual search services for families looking for schools,” said Colleen Dippel, Families Empowered Founder & CEO.

“Partnering with National School Choice Week to create in person school fairs is a great opportunity to meet families where they are and make the process of finding and applying to a school fun and easy. Together our organizations are closing the opportunity gap for thousands of families.”

The Houston Zoo is located at 6200 Hermann Park Dr. Families unable to attend in person are invited to use applyhouston.org to find schools and access application links.

This event is organized by Families Empowered, a non-profit parent service organization which brings families information so they can choose the education that works best for them.

For more information, contact Ayla Dehghanpoor at adehghanpoor@familiesempowered.org or (832) 955-7664.

National School Choice Week (NSCW) informs, inspires, and empowers parents to discover the K-12 education options available for their children, including traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home schooling. Every January, tens of thousands of schools, organizations, and individuals plan unique events and activities to shine a positive spotlight on effective education options in their communities. The Week is a project of the nonpartisan, nonpolitical National School Choice Awareness Foundation.