SHS PTA and Counseling Office Host First College Night for Juniors

Written by Liz Lash

For the first time, the PTA and the SHS guidance department hosted "Junior Night" on June 1. Juniors who attended the event in the SHS Cafeteria had the opportunity to meet with recent graduates. By talking to these SHS alumni of the classes of 2007 and 2008, juniors got the student perspective of the college application process and attending college.

Previously, the only school-sponsored college event at SHS was “College Panel Night,” where parents and students heard college admissions officers' point of views about college. With "Junior Night," however, "SHS students get a chance to hear from former SHS students about what life is really like at various colleges,” said PTA chair Elizabeth Gruber. Because the conversations were between two students, “juniors could hear factual information about each school's history, surroundings and population, as well as information about the social life at each school,” said SHS alumnus Zachary Drucker, who just completed his freshman year at Tufts University.

PTA leaders and the guidance department selected colleges based on juniors' responses to a survey. Alumni from a range of universities were invited to participate in the event because “we wanted to have a varied representation of colleges with regard to size, location, and level of academic rigor among other characteristics. The schools that were represented are those with SHS graduates who volunteered to attend," said Gruber. "We also made an effort to include schools that are popular with SHS graduates."

Each alumnus was given a guide from the PTA, which provided a list of topics they should discuss with the juniors “including why you chose the college, what the sporting events are like, how the academics are handled, what residential living is like, whether the campus is urban or rural, how the social life is, and how each school compares to SHS,” explained Drucker.

At the event, juniors met with their assigned colleges for 20 minutes each. “Each college had its own table in the SHS cafeteria and the juniors circulated and arrived at each table to hear an info session,” Drucker explained. During these sessions, “we got to talk to students who weren't being paid as tour guides," junior Lisle Winston noted. "They gave their honest opinions about the school, which was nice, unlike the college admission officers that juniors were used to speaking with."

Not all juniors believed “Junior Night” provided entirely accurate insight on the college experience at each school. Junior Eric Weinstein noted, "without seeing the school firsthand it's tough to get an impression because of course no one is going to say ‘my school is bad.'" Nonetheless, "It was nice to get a Scarsdale perspective on many of these schools and have the opportunity to talk to a student for a change,” said Winston.