College Fair Comes to Wooster

On Thursday, April 11, 2024, Wooster School held its Annual College Fair. It was a chance for students to familiarize themselves with a variety of different colleges and universities. According to Wooster’s Director of Student Guidance Mr. Newman, “The college fair is an opportunity for students to meet representatives for the admission offices at these different colleges and to start to engage with them a little bit about what programs are available at certain schools.” Students were able to explore new possibilities for their future and see what path they wish to take down the road.
    
When we talked to Mr. Newman he told us about how nerve-racking looking into colleges can be. He told us about how helpful the college fair can be in that sense and the ability it has to soothe our worries. “When people hear about the college search process it’s often intimidating, so the college fair is intended for the beginning stages of the process, and to not be so intimidating. People can see that these are real people on the other side of the desk reviewing applications and that they are all very reasonable and not particularly scary and they are available to answer questions that students have.” Wooster is so lucky that the college fair can bring reassurance to all the students stressing about what might be lying ahead of them in the future.

In the college fair there were groups of students of all ages, ranging from freshmen to seniors. When we spoke to Mr. Newman he suggested that people just starting high school should begin to give thought to the possibility of college. “Although people think freshman year may be too soon to be thinking about this process, it will go fast so it’s never too soon to start preparing and start to be thinking about what interests you and where you want to be when you move away from home for the first time.” New experiences are scary, but at the same time, it's worth getting out there to learn new things. Thinking of a plan or goal early isn’t needed, but can be comforting for some people, and allow them to enjoy their involvement with the college process more. 

Despite the worries or concerns some may have had going into this fair, Mr. Newman gave out some critical advice that should be taken beyond the college process and remembered every day. “I think the best advice for the college fair going into it is just to be yourself. You know it’s the same advice we give to students in the application process for college. That’s what these representatives are most interested in, is who you are as a person… so to be true to yourself and know that this is a very low stakes and very low pressure. So just go in and expect to have fun.” 

The college fair was so helpful to so many students, and simply just interesting to others. Thank you to all the ambassadors from the colleges that came to our school, and for encouraging us to follow what we are truly passionate about!