During seminar nearly every Thursday in October, students had the new opportunity to attend the Next Steps College and Career Fair to talk and learn from representatives from various career opportunities and colleges in the PAC.
The fair was open to sophomores, juniors and seniors. Schools and businesses that attended the fair included the US Army, the US Marines, the University of Oklahoma, Wichita State University, J.E. Dunn and many others.
According to counselor Patricia Chandler, the goal of the Next Steps Program is to give students a better chance to talk to representatives.
“The overall goal is to provide a meaningful time for students and reps to have a more meaningful conversation,” Chandler said. “Instead of students going up to get a free pencil or a sticker or something, actually hearing about what the opportunity is.”
In previous years, the school provided a similar opportunity for students to talk to representatives during lunch in the commons. However, the short lunch periods were inefficient for students and the representatives.
“We didn’t feel like the lunchroom was very conducive because [the students] only have 20 minutes or so, and did not really have a chance to talk to the representatives,” Chandler said. “We just felt like they were just standing there, and we didn’t want them wasting their time.”
Senior Gillian Szymczak enjoyed this year’s fair more than the lunchroom because it provided more variety.
“I do enjoy this year’s Next Step way more than last year’s meetings with the college representatives during lunch,” Szymczak said. “Having it during seminar makes it fun to see multiple schools at once and be able to hang out with friends.”
Chandler believes that the advertisement of the fair was a reason why the Next Steps College and Career Fair was successful.
“I had very positive feedback, not only from the reps themselves, but also from the students that attended,” Chandler said. “I have not received any negatives at all, and I think it was helpful to advertise who was coming on which day, so then students could plan accordingly.”
Szymczak, who is on a pre-physical therapy path, used the fair as an opportunity to see which colleges had her career path.
“I spoke to the US Air Force representative and he talked about the other opportunities in the Air Force,” Szymczak said. “It helped me make decisions because I learned the location of the school and if they have pre-physical therapy. The only school I liked was KU because it is still close to home and also has pre-physical therapy.”
The school plans to continue with the Next Steps Program with four more fairs in February, before spring break. Chandler said freshmen would get the opportunity to attend these fairs.
“This semester, we didn’t know what to expect, so we started with juniors and seniors, and then the last two, we opened up to sophomores,” Chandler said. “Next semester, we’ll do freshmen through juniors for students to come down and visit if they would like.”
