Homewood High School held its annual college fair for future HHS graduates Oct 1. The Alabama Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (ALACRAO) held the event, allowing colleges to interact with potential students.
Upon entering the fair students were greeted at booths manned by college representatives waiting to build connections with HHS Students. The representatives provided information about their school, curriculums offered, opportunities available for students and handed out college merch to students.
The event was coordinated by Ashely Davenport, HHS college and career counselor who partners with the nonprofit organization ALACRAO, an organization founded for schools in Alabama to aid and provide for students aiming for higher education by planning college fairs.
“ALACRAO has a list of schools that are a part of their group and that are going to be a part in their fairs,” Davenport said. “When I sign up for the fair I automatically see schools that are participating within this community organization.” From there, Davenport said she just had to get the word out to students and provide tables.
She emphasized the importance of exposing students to diverse educational paths and scholarships, helping students find and choose the direction for their educational journey.
“They can go and talk to a college they haven’t thought about before, or maybe hear of a different major or scholarship besides the typical ones they mostly hear of from graduates,” Davenport said.
Davenport said she is mindful of the locations of the universities asked to participate, most opting for schools within driving distance.
“That’s key as well because most of our students will go to college within driving distance of Homewood, so it needed to be more local,” She said.
With both ALACRAO’s resources and Davenport’s guidance, the college fair brings HHS students the opportunity to research and discover new schools that they might not have known about before the event.
Senior Luke Binet shared his experience at the fair.
“I plan to go to college next year, and it’s nice to see what’s out there, it’s easy to get into the idea that you have one right school, but it’s nice to see a diverse palette of different schools,” Binet said. “There’s a lot more colleges in Alabama than I thought, [such as] these really small schools that I might not have seen or heard about.”
These informal meetings provide an opportunity for universities to build connections and relationships with students.
Quinn Pearson, the director of admissions at Huntington College, appreciates attending college fairs and building these connections.
“I see a lot of value in allowing students to come and learn about different institutions and all the offerings that they have,” Pearson said. “You have a lot of smaller schools, you have a lot of larger schools, so getting to talk about the differences and guiding students on their journey is neat for me.”
