{"id":2449564,"date":"2019-10-06T21:04:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T03:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/colo-high-schoolers-meet-potential-colleges\/"},"modified":"2019-10-07T10:39:46","modified_gmt":"2019-10-07T16:39:46","slug":"colorado-high-schoolers-meet-potential-colleges-at-annual-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/colorado-high-schoolers-meet-potential-colleges-at-annual-fair\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado high schoolers meet potential colleges at annual fair"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.7595772787318\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-313938-581\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/collegefair-atd-100719-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/collegefair-atd-100719-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Maddie Vincent\/The Aspen Times | High school students talk with Brooke Cavallo, an admissions officer with High Point University in North Carolina, during the 15th annual Colorado Western Slope College Fair on Sunday, Oct. 6.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"12\">\n<p><strong>High school students talk with Brooke Cavallo, an admissions officer with High Point University in North Carolina, during the 15th annual Colorado Western Slope College Fair on Sunday, Oct. 6.<\/strong><br \/>Maddie Vincent\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/collegefair-atd-100719-1.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"High school students talk with Brooke Cavallo, an admissions officer with High Point University in North Carolina, during the 15th annual Colorado Western Slope College Fair on Sunday, Oct. 6.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/collegefair-atd-100719-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/collegefair-atd-100719-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Maddie Vincent\/The Aspen Times | A few high schoolers gather in front of the Grand Canyon University booth and talk with Sarah Tejeda, an admissions counselor. Tejeda represented one of the roughly 250 colleges, universities and programs present on the Aspen School District campus Sunday, Oct. 6 for the Colorado Western Slope College Fair.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"13\">\n<p><strong>A few high schoolers gather in front of the Grand Canyon University booth and talk with Sarah Tejeda, an admissions counselor. Tejeda represented one of the roughly 250 colleges, universities and programs present on the Aspen School District campus Sunday, Oct. 6 for the Colorado Western Slope College Fair.<\/strong><br \/>Maddie Vincent\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/collegefair-atd-100719-1-1.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"A few high schoolers gather in front of the Grand Canyon University booth and talk with Sarah Tejeda, an admissions counselor. Tejeda represented one of the roughly 250 colleges, universities and programs present on the Aspen School District campus Sunday, Oct. 6 for the Colorado Western Slope College Fair.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/collegefair-atd-100719-1-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/collegefair-atd-100719-1-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Maddie Vincent\/The Aspen Times | Hundreds of students from across the state's western slope attended the Colorado Western Slope College Fair in Aspen on Sunday, Oct. 6.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>Hundreds of students from across the state&#8217;s western slope attended the Colorado Western Slope College Fair in Aspen on Sunday, Oct. 6.<\/strong><br \/>Maddie Vincent\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/10\/collegefair-atd-100719-1-2.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Hundreds of students from across the state's western slope attended the Colorado Western Slope College Fair in Aspen on Sunday, Oct. 6.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/colo-high-schoolers-meet-potential-colleges\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/colo-high-schoolers-meet-potential-colleges\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">At the start of the weekend, Aspen High School seniors Hailey Higdon and Avery Hirsch were pretty set on what universities they wanted to attend next fall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But after Sunday\u2019s <a id=\"N0x26808e0N0x2834360:N0x26808e0N0x25b1b48\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cwscollegeoutreach.org\/\">Colorado Western Slope College Fair<\/a> held on the Aspen School District campus, the 17-year-olds weren\u2019t as sure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI thought I knew where I wanted to go but now I don\u2019t because I found out about a lot of new colleges,\u201d Hirsch said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In the parking lot adjacent to Aspen Middle School, Hirsch, Higdon and a group of other Aspen High School seniors talked about their experiences attending the annual college fair over the years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Each fall, the four-hour fair <a id=\"N0x26808e0N0x28343c0:N0x26808e0N0x25b1d88\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-school-district-to-host-15th-annual-college-fair-on-sunday\/\">aims to introduce high school students across the western slope to a variety of post-secondary education options<\/a> in hopes the teens will find the place that\u2019s the best fit for them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe college fair definitely makes the search less intimidating,\u201d Higdon said. Many of her friends voiced agreement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt puts the college world into perspective and helps you get to know the human aspect by talking with the (admissions officers),\u201d Hirsch added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Beneath two large, white tents, roughly 250 tables covered in colorful brochures, pens and stickers were lined in long rows and manned by enthusiastic admissions officers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hundreds of students and their families squeezed up and down each row to speak with the officers, and visited each of the three district school buildings to attend workshops on a variety of topics from financial aid and test preparation, to military colleges and study abroad opportunities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">At 12:30 p.m., about two-dozen students and their families gathered in the Aspen Middle School for a new workshop to the college fair this year, titled \u201cPractical Pathways to the Degree You Want.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The panel-style workshop featured admissions officers from Colorado Mountain College, Aims Community College and Colorado State University-Pueblo, and focused on how concurrent enrollment and career or technical education programs may help create a more cost-effective, direct way for high school students to pursue the adult future they envision.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As explained by Lisa Runck, associate dean of student affairs for Colorado Mountain College, there has been a recent push for concurrent enrollment, or college courses offered in high school for college credit, in the state of Colorado.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cDual-enrollment is a wonderful way to get a jump start on your general education courses while you\u2019re still in high school,\u201d Runck said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Most concurrent enrollment courses transfer over to four-year public universities and help students start college ahead academically and financially, as most high schools foot the dual-course tuition bills.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Runck also talked about the advantages of associates of applied science and certificate programs, like those in nursing and information technology, for some students.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThese programs typically take two to three years to complete and are designed to narrow a student\u2019s focus in a specialized career field,\u201d Runck said. \u201cThey help you get to employment faster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">After talking through the pros and cons of these vocational programs, Runck and the other admissions counselors offered students and families a few pieces of general advice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The counselors acknowledged that deciding on what you want to do after high school isn\u2019t always easy, and encouraged seniors to really think about what they enjoy doing and what their values are before making their post-secondary education decisions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThink about your day-to-day activities. What do you like to read or to binge watch?\u201d Runck asked the group. \u201cIt\u2019s really difficult to make some of these decisions when you\u2019re 17 and 18 \u2026It\u2019s OK to not know your direction and if you need a little time to figure it out, take that time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:mvincent@aspentimes.com\">mvincent@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/colo-high-schoolers-meet-potential-colleges\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>High school students talk with Brooke Cavallo, an admissions officer with High Point University in North Carolina, during the 15th annual Colorado Western Slope College Fair on Sunday, Oct. 6.Maddie Vincent\/The Aspen Times A few high schoolers gather in front of the Grand Canyon University booth and talk with Sarah Tejeda, an admissions counselor. Tejeda [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2449564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 20:49:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2449582,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449564\/revisions\/2449582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}