Virtual University Fair Helps Western Slope Students ‘Discover Their Future’

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Thousands of high school students from across the state participated in the Colorado Western Slope College Fair in 2016.
Aspen Times file photo

Since 2004, the first Sunday in October has been an opportunity for thousands of students and parents across western Colorado to imagine – and literally see – what the future might hold for them as they walk through a space filled with over 200 higher education representatives attending the Colorado Western Slope College Fair at Aspen High School.

“They would get a picture of what’s possible and what’s available to them,” said Kathy Klug, who has hosted the event since its inception and is the director of Colorado Western Slope College Outreach.

This year, those students can all attend at home – and in their pajama bottoms, Klug joked Thursday – because the event is offered practically on Sunday to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The image will come from a screen filled with 214 “rooms” that students can enter to engage with colleges from coast to coast.



“They can be physically at home and have access to 214 colleges from their living rooms,” Klug said.

Participants will complete the exploration of the college with two workshop sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. There are almost 50 workshops – double the amount offered in person in 2019; all workshops will be available in both time slots on topics ranging from scholarships and college sports to certification and apprenticeship pathways. Sessions on financial aid and navigating the admissions process will also be offered in Spanish.



The format offers enough flexibility that participants can participate in multiple workshops during each of the two sessions, and students can come and go from virtual rooms during the University Fair to see as many schools as possible in two hours. Registration takes about two minutes according to Klug and gives participants access to the entire shebang; parents are also invited to attend workshops this year.

“It’s done so that these kids have no excuse not to meet their future,” Klug said.

It’s a “candy store mentality” in which students can “achieve what you want and what you don’t want” just by the nature of the whole exhibit, Klug said.

This exhibition is the key, and always has been for the fair; the event was created 17 years ago to strengthen college engagement with Western Slope students at a time when high schoolers in the area might not have considered such broad options, Klug said.

“My only job is to put kids in touch with college, especially rural and underserved kids” who might not have access to private college counselors or even the strong post-secondary counseling staff available to help. students of Aspen High School.

As of September 30, Klug expected 1,000 to 1,500 students to log on; 82 high schools have been invited and students have enrolled in at least 50 of these schools so far.

And thanks to this year’s virtual format, it’s much easier for these kids to attend. Students who in the past had to travel to campus by bus a six-hour drive away and spend the night in the gyms can now attend from their homes, saving them a long weekend and spending time. save schools on transport costs.

“It really is the most democratic event,” Klug said. And all it takes are a few clicks to get started on the path to graduate plans – whether it’s a four-year college, trade school, apprenticeship. , a sabbatical year or other.

“You can have your future there. … You just have to show a little imagination and it happens for you, ”she said.

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