Juniors, seniors to learn about post-high school options at EPHS College & Career Fair

Elmwood Park High School is preparing for its first post-pandemic College & Career Fair, which will be held Thursday from 8:40 to 10:20 a.m. This event will exhibit different colleges and professional careers. 

Organized by College & Career Counseling Specialist Paige Kozyra, the fair aims to bring continuous post-secondary exposure to EPHS students. The event, only for juniors and seniors, will "bring in voices that are not the adults in the building,” Kozyra said.

The fair provides students with three different 30-minute sessions: a college session featuring more than 25 participating institutions, like DePaul University and Marquette University, and two career-focused sessions with speakers covering more than a dozen different fields, such as real estate and firefighting. The college session will be held in the South Gym, while the career sessions will be spread out in classrooms and other spaces throughout the building.

A DePaul representative talks with a prospective applicant during the
2017 EPHS College Fair. This year's College & Career Fair will be the first such event
at the high school since the COVID pandemic. (D401 photo by Dave Porreca)

Students were asked to fill out a survey on Oct. 15, asking them to choose their top four career sessions. They will be placed in two of these. In these sessions, students are encouraged to engage with representatives and learn about admission requirements, important career skill sets, and anything else they may want to know. 

The goal is to provide juniors and seniors with new information. "We want students to be able to see, hear, and learn about different interesting careers," Kozyra said, noting the importance of hearing direct perspectives from professionals rather than teachers or counselors.

While juniors and seniors will benefit from the fair, their takeaways will likely differ. "For juniors, this may be their first insight into the college research process, so we want to slowly guide them through it," Kozyra explained. "For seniors, the information will either confirm [their future plans] or move them in other directions."

The fair also sets the stage for future opportunities, with plans for more speaking events, EPHS alumni panels, and college and career advisory visits.

 "I’m hoping that students just see this as an opportunity and that everyone walks away feeling like they got something positive out of it," Kozyra said. 

“This is the start of hopefully a lot more to come.”