Hundreds of college representatives gathered in the halls of Round Rock High School Oct. 19 to answer the questions of high school students interested in their colleges.

The College Fair was made up of hundreds of booths snaking around the hallways of Round Rock High School, each manned by a different college representative who was ready to answer questions and pass our brochures.

“It’s kind of a snapshot look at all the different colleges out there,” Marv Schmitt said, a freshman counselor who attended the event.

Students began to trickle in starting at 6 p.m. and could mingle among the booths until 8 p.m. if they wanted, probing college representatives and contemplating their future all the while. Alyssa Geerts ‘17 was one of those contemplators.

“It was kind of overwhelming at first because you walk in and there’s just a bunch of tables,” Geerts said. “There had to have been, like, 200 tables lined out around Round Rock High School, and each one was a different college and I wasn’t expecting that.”

From a counselor’s perspective, one of the chief goals of the fair is to help students see beyond major Texas schools and consider all their options before make the huge decision of selecting a college.

“I think most kids will get a feel that ‘Wow, there’s something out there besides UT and A&M’ and there’s all kinds of cool colleges out there,” Mr. Schmitt said.

Parents, like Mrs. Tracy Palombi, also noted the variety of schools represented.

“There were so many schools that I’ve never even heard of that were possibilities for kids to attend,” Mrs. Palombi said, who attended the event with her daughter.

According to Mr. Schmitt, this is the first year the college booths have been so spread out. In the past, all the college booths were in the cafeteria of the host high school. In such close quarters, according to Mr. Schmitt, the fair had the feel of “feeding piranhas.”

“It was almost like Halloween trick-or-treating,” Mr. Schmitt said.  “Everybody just kind of got a bag and they weren’t having conversations, they were just grabbing materials and throwing them in the bag and going to the next table.”

The extra space this year allowed room for conversations to blossom.

“I can just imagine the conversations were so much more meaningful,” Mr. Schmitt said.

According to students, being prepared for these conversations was key to getting the most out of the event.

“Make sure you have questions prepared!” Geerts said.