By Nathan Straus
nstraus@jacksonvilleprogress.com
Jacksonville High School students got an early glimpse of college opportunities at the school’s annual college fair Thursday.
The afternoon saw around 30 college recruiters and a few military recruiters working with prospective college students to find out their hopes for the future.
Jan Weeks, a registrar at the high school, said about 450 senior students and more than 300 juniors attended the free event.
“It’s a great turnout — comparable to last year,” Weeks said.
Students came to the cafeteria after class to sample local and nearby colleges. Lon Morris College and Jacksonville College were represented by recruiters, as were East Texas Baptist University and Dallas Baptist University.
Courtney Foster, administrative assistant for admissions at Lon Morris College, said the students were very interested especially since the school’s football program was put into effect.
“It definitely makes me excited to see so many kids interested,” Foster said.
Danny Morris, director of admissions at Jacksonville College, said the outlook seemed very nice from where he stood.
“It’s good to be the hometown team. There’s pretty good interest compared to other fairs,” Morris said.
Students like Mikaela Villavisencio took to the fair with marked enthusiasm.
“I’m looking at Texas A&M.; It’s my dream school,” she said.
Villavisencio said she learned some new information about applying that will help her on her career path of becoming an aerospace engineer.
Caleb Hassell said the fair has helped his search for a technical college campus.
“I’m looking at Texas State Technical College. They look pretty good, and they will have a campus in Palestine,” Hassell said.
Shuntrevia Horn said the University of Austin appealed to her.
“I want to know what I can major in and what can help. This fair helps me,” she said.
Anthony Marcus, lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, said the event was his 30th or so, and it’s brought a lot of students to his table.
“We’re looking for quality applicants that meet our requirements,” he said.
Seniors and juniors from the school were able to browse through the college booths before school ended. Sophomore and freshman students joined the college fair once the final bell had rung.
