By Lizzie Redmore and Emily Pomeroy
Staff Writers
The 22nd annual college fair hosted by Jamesville-DeWitt High School, Fayetteville Manlius High School, and East Syracuse Minoa High School had over 90 college universities attend. The location rotates yearly between each school and this year was J-DHS’s turn to host the fair.
With the excellent reputation of the host schools, many prestigious colleges attended the college fair, according to J-DHS counselor Denise Becher. Colleges such as Syracuse University, Notre Dame, and Hobart-William Smith had representatives attend, as well as many local state schools, so there were schools for all levels of students. “I got to visit a lot of colleges without leaving the comfort of our gymnasium.” said Senior Paddy Hagan
The college fair allows students to get a better idea of different kinds of colleges and their requirements. Becher said for seniors it’s a good opportunity to see what other schools they’d like to apply to, and to talk to the college representatives that might be reading their applications. For juniors it’s a good start for them to think about the college process and how to talk to a college representative and get information. “Applying for college is a huge process that takes a lot of research on the student’s part,” said Becher.
The students at J-DHS find the college fair very helpful in deciding which schools they’d like to look more into for their future. “I’m going to the college fair because the college process kind of stresses me out,” said junior Kelsey Kissane. Other students are more excited about the college fair. “It’s never too early to start thinking about college,” said junior Matt O’Connor.
Many students’ opinions of the schools were affected by the representatives of those schools. “Some were talkative and some were quiet, but my favorite colleges had really outgoing representatives.” saiad sophomore Bennett Chirco. “The representatives were very friendly and you could tell they wanted to be there and were willing to help with the college process.” said Hagan
The college fair tradition helps the local students make a big decision that will effect the rest of their lives. Chirco said “I’ve just scratched the surface with the college process, but it helped me to see it early on in high school.”