Some students brought lists of schools they wanted to visit with. Others wandered the Homewood-Flossmoor High School field house listening to presentations from college representatives. Parents tagged along. It was a crowded house Oct. 16 when Big 10, Ivy League, Illinois schools and a host of others came to Flossmoor for the annual College Night.
Danielle Jordan, a senior at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, meets with a representative of Southern Illinois University about her admission. (Photo by Marilyn Thomas/H-F Chronicle)
Some students brought lists of schools they wanted to visit with. Others wandered the Homewood-Flossmoor High School field house listening to presentations from college representatives. Parents tagged along.
It was a crowded house Oct. 16 when Big 10, Ivy League, Illinois schools and a host of others came to Flossmoor for the annual College Night hosted by H-F High’s Guidance Office. The event, organized by H-F college counselors Brad Kain and Kevin Coy, drew approximately 220 colleges and universities.
Senior Danielle Jordan of Homewood had questions about residency halls at Southern Illinois University. She’d received her acceptance letter a few days before the college fair. SIU’s pre-dentistry program will help her attain her goal of being an oral surgeon “and I like the area down there,” she added.
Max Perez, a junior from Homewood, came to the fair for the first time. He wanted to hear about university programs in math, physics, chemistry, engineering and computer science. Would he choose a school close or far? Max wasn’t sure, and his mom, Katrina Perez, said that would depend on the best program and the best financial offer.
Junior Clayvon Bedenfield of Homewood was at the fair with his dad, Clay. He had a list of colleges with strong computer programs that he intended to visit. First up was Concordia University where representative Rosa Reiber told him grade point average and test scores were important for scholarship opportunities.
Luke Lesimple, a sophomore from Homewood, thinks he may want to major in game development. He talked with Jennifer Paar Gross, Midwestern regional senior associate director at the University of Denver. Luke admited he isn’t sure where he wants to enroll for college, but the fair offered many possibilities.
Grace Keigher, a sophomore from Homewood, was at the fair for the first time.
“I’m shopping, but I’m thinking about St. Louis University” for a degree in health sciences, she said as she wandered College Night with her mother, Erin.
Larry Pauly, the admissions director of the Chicago region for Millikin University, has been coming to H-F’s College Night for nearly two decades. He calls it “a phenomenal event for us (reps) and H-F takes care of everybody with a welcoming dinner.”
Moving the program to the field house has made it much more comfortable for all concerned, he added.
Adding the Strive Scan was also an bonus for college representatives.
H-F students filled out basic student profile information beforehand for Strive Scan. That document was scanned and uploaded to a student’s phone as a barcode. When students approached a college representative, all they needed to do was scan the barcode and the information would automatically be available to a college admission office. And, students got an email the day after the college fair with information on the colleges that scanned their information.
