Students bustle from booth to booth, their hands brimmed with college posters, branded stationery, and new aspirations. Despite the local environment of Coppell High School where the annual College Fair was hosted on Thursday evening, the fair was anything but. 

More than 200 colleges and regional representatives attended the event from institutions, including a handful of international schools. Although a large demographic of students were seniors, juniors, sophomores, and even freshman dotted the event. 

“I’ve been looking at colleges for a long time, so I was excited to meet representatives from the school,” Coppell freshman Marli Field said. “I’m here because I want an idea of where I’m going and what I want to do before I actually start preparing for college. I want to have a goal and strive for it.”

By having a one-on-one experience with college representatives, students are able to immerse themselves in more tangible ways than scrolling through a college’s website or social media. 

“It’s very interesting to see the different schools available. There was a hair salon school [TONI & GUY Hairdressing Academy], and I didn’t even know about that,” CHS senior Apurva Betgar said. “This is a great opportunity to learn about different colleges and explore your options as well. I don’t think people realize how many options are available until you come to a college fair.”

Face-to-face interactions foster a relationship with colleges that can otherwise be inaccessible to students.

“[College representatives] just want to sell their college. They’re trying to find the one that’s right for them,” CHS lead counselor Ann Cinneli said. “They’re here to answer questions and add a face to the name. It’s an opportunity for kids to ask questions who will most likely be reading your application.”

College representatives often have an impetus behind standing behind a booth and answering questions for two hours: the potential to change someone’s life. 

“I’m a first generation student, and I didn’t believe I could go to college,” Texas A&M University-Commerce representative Marcus Hawkins said. “I went to A&M-Commerce, got all the resources I needed and now here I am today. I felt the need to come back and give someone else the same experience I got.”

The institutions that come to CHS’s College Fair has continued to grow, up from 140 last year. By offering a variety of options, Cinelli hopes that seniors add new names to their college list.

“University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at Dallas and Texas A&M are here all the time,” Cinelli said. “They’re the predominant ones – the ones you know. There are 197 other schools that you might not know of.  I want seniors to go through and say here’s my college list. I’ve visited UT: it’s down the road. I’ve visited A&M: it’s down the road. I have to add some more to that. What do I want to add?”

Follow Anushree De (@anushree_night) and @CHSCampusNews on Twitter.