On September 30th, Coral Gables Senior High held its third annual College Fair. With 81 colleges planning to attend, the committee in charge of the event worked hard to make sure the gym looked it’s best for the college representatives. Parents from the PTSA as well as student volunteers began setting up for the event as early as Saturday, September 28, in order to make sure everything went according to plan.

Beginning Wednesday, September 25th to Friday the 27th, the PTSA distributed passes for the college fair in front of the new building during both lunches and in the mornings before school. Students had three sessions to choose from, all about a half hour long, starting at 12:30 PM and lasting until the end of the school day.

“The fair was extremely well organized. Everyone was very helpful and asked good questions. It was a very interesting and pleasant first experience,” said Patricia Marco, a parent alumnus and Washington University St. Louis Representative.

At around 11:30 AM, visiting college representatives started to trickle in and were immediately greeted by a table of student volunteers who signed them in and then directed them to their respective spots in the fair. The representatives were then escorted to a luncheon that was prepared for them by the culinary students, and were entertained with performances by the band and color guard.

“Your students are incredibly friendly and hospitable and really set the standard for how others could and should be,” commented Andrew Parrish, the Sr. Assistant Director from UNC Chapel Hill.

After the luncheon, the college representatives went back to the gym where they patiently waited for the sessions to start and the students to come. Volunteers continued to lend a hand as well by making sure the hallways stayed cleared and trafficking the rush of students during the changing of classes. Once the fair started, the hallways surrounding the gym were only accessible to those who had obtained a college fair pass from the PTSA. Overall, the fair’s turnout was incredible.

Much like Fernandez, many students look forward to the college fair because of the endless amounts of information it offers. Students were able to go from table to table in order to discover the various opportunities that the schools’ have and to ask questions about what the environments at the different schools are like.

“It really inspired me to work a little harder. I was able to compare the colleges and I realized I really wouldn’t be satisfied with myself unless I went to a really prestigious college, which means that I need to step up my game. I’ve searched for colleges online, but I haven’t actually toured any. I actually got a lot of questions answered. The people that were there were super sweet and really helpful. Overall, it was just a great experience,” junior Jessie Wang said.

(The PTSA would really appreciate it if time was taken to answer a couple of questions about the college fair. Please click here to complete the survey)