By Atziri tapia ’19
On April 12 juniors from Pritzker College Prep attended the annual college fair at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion from 10:00 a.m.-11:45 a.m. alongside with other Noble Network students to get to know more about colleges and what they offer.
The college fair was hosted by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, NACAC, they often host college fairs around the United States for students. Their goal is to “encourage you to learn more about their institutions, and help you sort through the qualities you’re looking for in a college,” according to nacacfairs.org. Over 100 schools attended the fair from private to public schools to long distance and short distance.
The college team rounded up the juniors in the cafeteria to debrief with the students about the expectations and questions students have. Mark Williams, Sarah Kruger, and Laura Edwards, college counselors, presented a slide with questions the students could ask the college’s representatives such as: What’s the average class during freshman year? Does your school offer any tutors? and how would you describe the college environment? The college team made sure the students did not ask questions that are simple, which can be found. Also, they wanted the students to stand out when talking to a college representative so they could have a better chance of being remembered by college administration.
The juniors were then released to explore their future college. Some students received a red band to put around their hand to be able to have access to talk to more selective colleges, such as Harvard, Northwestern, and The University of Chicago. Yuritza Salgado, a junior, stated, “This is a benefit for us to have because I have other friends that go to other schools and they don’t have these type of college fairs.” Salgado during the fair learn more about U of I, Northwestern, and ISU. Yarely Cirilo, a junior, stated, “I enjoy learning about the colleges that were in the college fair because I got to know about The University of Tampa, and they had some majors I’m interested and the [representative] made the college culture sound interesting.” Evelyn Barrera, a junior, stated, “I was more into looking at colleges that are close or colleges that are around the state.” The juniors were often talking to a representative and writing down their emails or standing to relax due to the crowdedness and chaos that was happening.
This was not the only college fair juniors at Pritzker have attended. During October, juniors had to attend a mandatory college fair in the McCormick Place where students could invite their parents as well. The juniors are learning more and more about where they want to pursue their college education.
