PRHS College Fair Brings Future Into Focus

Pearl River High School's guidance counselors speak to students about college all time.

Sometimes it takes something like the Pearl River High School College Fair to help that message hit home.

"I think for some students, it makes the process more concrete," said Pearl River High School guidance counselor Joe Hanlon "When you are actually meeting college people, if you haven't been on a campus yet, it's real. It makes it more motivating for the kids to engage in the process.

"Adding a more personal touch with a big college through an area representative can really help bridge that gap and make it a more personal experience for the kids."

Another PRHS guidance counselor, Randee Stark, said that having so much information in one place is very useful.

"It's exposure and it's being able to ask college representatives specific questions," Stark said. "It's right there at their fingertips. They can just go table to table and compare different programs."

The Pearl River PTSA sponsors the the annual college fair, which will be held from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in both gyms at Pearl River High School. The fair is open to all high school students and their parents, including those outside the district, and admission is free.

“I think it's a great introduction,” said Barbara Kney-Wilson, who is in her second year organizing the college fair. “I believe it is important for kids from ninth grade and up because even at the ninth-grade level, you can start asking questions and paying attention. The earlier you start the process the better.”

The colleges pay $75 to take part. There were 87 colleges that had signed up by the end of last week and Kney-Wilson said there are usually last-minute arrivals.

“The costs are minimal and it is free to the students,” Kney-Wilson said. “It is such a win-win for the school.”

The college representatives will be set up in both gyms, organized by alphabetical order. One key factor is to make sure students take a look at the schools in the back gym.

“To get people to go intot he back gym, we have better signage,” Kney-Wilson said. “We put all the SUNY schools together in the back. It worked out great because so many kids these days are looking at SUNY, probably because economic times are tough.”

Kney-Wilson said there were over 500 attendees last year, but she was not sure what to expect this time around. Due to inclement weather, Pearl River's sporting events were cancelled the day of last year's fair.

“We're not sure what to expect this year, but the vendors last year were thrilled with the turnout,” Kney-Wilson said.

This year's fair will include three vendors. Two are tutoring services -- Practice Perfect and Huntington Learning Center. The third is TD Bank, which has representatives talking to students and parents about things like college accounts and student checking accounts.

Pearl River's guidance counselors will also be set up at a table in the fair. Hanlon said that while younger students may attend, they strongly encourage juniors and seniors to go to the college fair. Gaining information is not the only reason to be there.

"Sometimes the reps that come are the ones reading the applications, so they (the students) are making contacts and connections when they are here," Stark said.

The students aren't the only ones networking with college representatives. This is an opportunity for the representatives of the school to connect with colleges as well.

“When someone is reading an application, they need to know what Pearl River is and have a frame of reference to what the Pearl River School District is,” Hanlon said. “This is an opportunity for us to meet with them so they can understand what we are, what our population is and what our level of readiness (for college) is.”

"It puts a face with an application and with the writer of the letter of recommendation," Stark said.

Many of the college representatives also set up meetings the day before and the day of the fair, giving students more opportunities to speak with them.

This is one advantage of having the fair at the school. Another is providing a more comfortable environment than larger college fairs.

“What’s nice about having it in our own community is it is less intimidating,” Kney-Wilson said. “There are more smaller colleges who are more welcoming to students who are not looking at the Ivy League or Georgetown.”

Hanlon pointed to the importance of an event like this to make the college application process more real for the students.

“It lets them know what they are doing in the classroom has consequences,” Hanlon said. “There is a payoff for it.”

The following colleges had registered to take part in the 2011 PRHS College Fair as of the end of last week:

• Adelphi University
• Albany College of Pharmacy
• Albertus Magnus College
• Alfred University
• Catholic University
• Centenary College
• Coastal Carolina University
• College of New Jersey
• College of ST. Rose
• College of Westchester
• Concordia College
• Dominican College
• East Stroudsburg University
• Eastwick College
• Fairleigh Dickinson
• Five Towns College
• Hofstra
• Iona College
• Ithica College
• Johnson & Wales
• Kean University
• Lasell College
• Lincoln Technical Institute
• LIM
• Long Island University
• Manhattan College
• Manhattanville College
• Mercy College
• Molloy College
• Monmouth University
• Moravian College
• Mount Saint Mary College
• Mount Saint Vincent College
• Pace University
• Purchase College
• Queens College
• Ramapo College of New Jersey
• Rider University
• Rowan University
• Rutgers University
• Salve Regina University
• Scranton University
• Seton Hall
• Siena College
• St. Joseph's University
• St. Michael's College
• St. Thomas Aquinas College
• Stevens Institute of Technology
• SUNY Albany
• SUNY Binghampton
• SUNY Cortland
• suny Delhi
• SUNY Farmingdale
• SUNY Institute of Technology
• SUNY Maritime
• SUNY Morrisville
• SUNY New Paltz
• SUNY Oneonta
• SUNY Oswego
• SUNY Rockland Communty College
• SUNY Westchester Community College
• The Sage Colleges
• Union College
• University of Massachusetts
• University of New Haven
• University of Rhode Island
• Vaughn College
• Wagner
• West Point: U.S. Military Academy
• William Patterson
• York College