Everyone deserves a place for students to learn and expand their knowledge on college choices. A college fair–whether someone wants to go to college or not–is an opportunity to think about the topic of college and possibly find a couple places where they want to spend their time after high school.

I’m in AVID 10, which is a class that helps students learn the study and organizational skills needed to be successful in college, and I got the chance to go to the NACAC National College Fair at the Oregon Convention Center. 

At the fair there were many colleges from locations on the West Coast to the East Coast, even internationally. 

I felt like I could find the things I was looking for because there was so much variety. In the future, I want to do something in the healthcare industry. I’m someone who enjoys learning about what the healthcare industry has to offer, and I enjoy hands-on activities. 

So while at the college stands, I expressed my future goals to the college reps. The reps gave me lots of advice for what to do now in high school and what school life at their specific school looks like for the future. I learned about majors offered, what dorms look like, and even about mascots.

Experiencing the college fair made me really excited for the time in the future when I get to choose my college and it helped me open my mind to more than just colleges in the West. 

AVID sophomore Denuilcy Lopez-Polino, a friend and classmate, learned about what majors are offered at different schools and how that really matters.

Lopez-Polino would like to study aerospace engineering. 

“I like problems, solving and robotics,” she said. “Aerospace is very specific, a single angle can make a giant difference in design.”

Lopez-Polino wants to go to college not only because of her current career choice but also because her parents didn’t go to college. That makes her feel a bit more pressure to go to a good college where she can get the career she wants. 

Going to the college fair helped her get more advice about classes she will need to take for anything in the engineering field. She found the college fair to be very useful and important. 

Talking with Misty Koenig, my AVID 10 teacher, she feels that the college fair was overall really helpful for all her students. She also explained how students tend to fixate on only a couple of colleges, leaving them without knowing that there’s so much more to look into. 

“Attend the college fair and open your mind to the possibility of finding a school that is perfect for you,” she said.

Looking back, the college fair was very helpful for students in finding more information about possible colleges and careers. In the future I hope to visit more college events with my AVID class.