The college fair is an annual event that happens at the Greenville Convention Center. There were over 45 colleges and universities in attendance this year including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, the University of Alabama and the University of South Carolina. There were also community colleges, such as Pitt Community College and Martin Community College, present.

     This year, the event took place on Wednesday, Oct.18 and was open to all sophomores, juniors and seniors. Each year, Rose transports students by bus to the event and typically takes around 40 students but has space to take up to 80.

Graphic by Julius Jones

     “First priority goes to the eleventh and twelfth graders just because they are a little closer to the college process,” school counselor Alayna Maness said. “Typically, we have room for all the tenth graders who want to go, but if I get a lot of juniors and seniors, I have to cut the tenth graders out.”

     Once students arrived at the fair, they had a chance to walk around the convention center, where each university or college had a table. Students could go to whatever table they wanted and learned all about different colleges and the opportunities they provide.

     “The college fair benefits high school students because it gives them exposure to life beyond high school,” Maness said. “[The schools are] there to talk to you about what some of their majors are, their extracurriculars, their Greek life and even the food on campus.”

     The college fair is one of the few trips that is completely free to students. It is an opportunity for students to learn more about college and what is needed to get accepted to where they might apply to.

     “It really opens up that conversation that there are so many schools people can go to and apply to,” Maness said. “The work it takes to get there is a big part of it.”

     Students can attend the college fair even if they are not one hundred percent sure they want to go to college.

     “We usually have a very broad range of our student body that attends the college fair,” Maness said. “We have kids that are at the top of their class academically and we have kids that are still deciding if college is for them or not.”

     Every counselor at Rose makes an effort to attend the event, so students can see that their future is something the counselors care about.

     “We actually go to a separate event where we meet all of these colleges already, but we want to be there and support [the students] while they are going through the process as well,” Maness said.

     The college fair has something for everyone and is an opportunity for students to learn about what college is like and what different schools have to offer. It can also help students learn about what their grade point average needs to be or what is expected of them academically to be able to attend whatever school they dream of attending. 

     “The college fair is open to everybody and there is something for everyone,” Maness said. “If people would just pick up a permission slip and go, it would open a lot of doors for them.”