Several out-of-state colleges were invited to Oak Park High School on Oct. 5 at the Great Lawn. College representatives were available at lunch to work with students and answer any of their questions. The fair’s purpose was to help students gain knowledge about some of the colleges they were thinking about applying to.

“To just kind of summarize, it’s to learn about college in general, to learn about different opportunities that colleges offer, to help students formulate some ideas of what they might want out of their college experience and also to expose students to a variety of types of schools,” College and Career Counselor Amanda Fitts said. “To perhaps help them find a school that could be a good fit. Even if these particular colleges aren’t necessarily a good fit for students, it can help them learn about different types of colleges and really start to think about the characteristics in colleges that they are looking for.”

The students who attend these fairs get a unique chance to talk to actual college representatives or admissions officers. It can help students get an understanding of the college or maybe even form a personal relationship with the officers.

“The college fair helped me get a perspective on what I look for in colleges,” sophomore Darya Ghavami wrote. “It gave me an opportunity to personally interact with the advisors and get insight that I could not obtain anywhere else.”

OPHS worked with the Regional Admissions Counselors of California to contact and coordinate with colleges around the world. 

“For us in particular, we work with our Syracuse representative,” Fitts said. “She reaches out to the RACC group to see who is interested and we just put it on.”

If students missed this year’s fair, there will be plenty of other opportunities to get involved.

“They offer not only in-person fairs but also virtual college fairs as well,” Fitts said. “So, students can sign up through that strive scan link, and then once they go into a virtual fair, they can meet with different colleges that sort of satisfy the criteria that the students are looking for.”

Overall, Ghavami defined the event as a huge success and definitely worth experiencing before you start applying to colleges.

“I think all students should definitely attend the college fairs because every college is different and suits different people,” Ghavami wrote.