On Wednesday, April 25th, the upper school students at Providence Academy attended the college fair, an annual event used to teach students about college and introduce them to many different colleges. Every year guest speakers come in to help students learn more about colleges and help them to plan for their eventual applications to colleges.
Sophomores and Juniors chose a panel to hear from based on the topic of the panel while the Freshmen listened to their own panel directed to Freshmen specifically. Then the three grades met in the gym to take part in the college fair.
The Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors all hear from college representatives about important topics such as picking careers, leaving the country for college, and ROTC programs. Each student was able to pick a topic that he/she would like to learn about. This helps students get answers for particular questions which can often come with a college search.
Freshmen are usually less interested in the fair. For example one Freshman expressed his lack of interest by saying that he didn’t really feel like anything he learned was of immediate importance because he hadn’t yet started his search for a dream college.
However, a different freshman, Will Landwehr said, “It was very important for us to learn and get our first insight into a college search.”
Mr. Brian Estrada, one of the college councilors at PA, said, “We look at 9th graders as experiencing that sort of thing for the first time.” He also expressed the importance of Freshmen getting more experience before they are thrust into a college search.
Generally Sophomores said that they knew more about what they wanted to do this year then they did last year, so they were able to be more focused on finding information that they needed.
Sophomore Peyton Pietrini said that this year was a good experience for her because she knew what she wanted to get out of the college fair. Mr. Estrada even said that for some students the Sophomore college fair is their most important college fair because for many students it is the beginning of a very serious college search that lasts until their applications are submitted.
Some Sophomores, however, don’t start their search as early as others. Whichever pace is taken, Sophomores still usually get much out of college day.
For the most part Juniors at the college fair already have most of the information they need and are really just looking to learn whatever they’ve missed in the past. The fair also serves to help Juniors explore colleges which they may have ignored in the past or maybe just never heard of. Because of this and how close Juniors are to needing to think about their college choices and their applications to these colleges, the fair is still indubitably beneficial.
While the other three grades heard about college searches and looked at different schools, the Seniors heard from a few different speakers about topics such as credit, debt, and life on campus. Seniors have always been left out of the college fair because they have finished their search, but last year the college counselors decided to give more focused talks to the seniors to ease their transition from high school to college.
Yes, the college fair is a great opportunity for students to learn about the many colleges and universities across the nation and beyond. I will add that is also an excellent opportunity for those of us privileged to represent those schools to learn about Providence Academy and the individuals who will soon be its graduates. While it may seem that each table visit is a one-way sales pitch from the school, the truth is much more complex. Every conversation is a mutual educational opportunity. We admissions representatives learn as much from the students (and sometimes more) as they do from us. So thank you to the students, faculty, and leadership of Providence Academy for taking the time and effort to educate the colleges and universities about your school, and most importantly, yourselves.