Annual career fair helps Butler high-schoolers make long-term decisions
BUTLER TWP — Even with about nine months to go before walking on stage to get their diplomas, dozens of high school students attended a college and career fair on Thursday evening, Sept. 25.
According to Annie Woller, a senior at Butler Senior High School, college and career preparation and talk of post-graduation lives for herself and her peers has been pretty common since the school year’s start.
“It’s, like, the only topic,” she said on Thursday after browsing a Butler County Community College table.
The college and career fair has been a yearly event at Butler Senior High School for decades now, according to Shannon McGraw, college tech prep coordinator at Butler Area School District. The event not only invites students from the district to browse the hundred-plus organizations with tables at the fair, but any high school student looking for information on future prospects.
Within Butler Senior High School, McGraw and the other counselors regularly communicate with students — seniors, especially — about college and career preparedness. The fair Thursday was another step in the process for students to learn about how much is out there in terms of post-high school options and take steps toward them.
“We have Ohio, central Pennsylvania, West Virginia schools, some from New York,” McGraw said.
The high school’s cafeteria was crowded with area colleges, including Slippery Rock University, Butler County Community College, University of Pittsburgh, Chatham University, Community College of Allegheny County and Community College of Beaver County. Out-of-state colleges also attended, including West Virginia University and Youngstown State University.
In addition to military representatives from the U.S. Army and National Guard, companies like Allegheny Health Network and the Butler Ambulance Service had booths where students could get information on going straight into the workforce. Keystone Job Corps also had a booth where students could go to learn about its work options.
McGraw said representation from area companies that are hiring is just as important as that of the colleges and universities.
“We have lots of two-year options here as well, trades, unions, military, local businesses if kids want to go straight to work, and colleges and universities of course,” McGraw said.
The fair also included a talk from Butler Senior High School’s guidance counselors, which McGraw said was aimed mainly at students not yet in their senior year, and a presentation on financial aid for college and the FAFSA, led by a staffer from BC3’s office of financial aid.
The cafeteria stayed crowded throughout the two-hour event. McGraw said she recommended students speak with any and all colleges they are interested in attending, because they could always follow up with them later. She compared the process of selecting a college to that of buying a car, because it’s an expensive decision that requires research to get the best results.
“It’s like speed-dating — you intermingle with a bunch of colleges at once,” McGraw said of the fair. “Then, you really need to go to that school and try it out, see what you think, get a college visit in.”
The college and career fair would also not be the last time representatives from several of the colleges in attendance would show up at Butler Senior High School. McGraw said PennWest and SRU each have “instant-decision” events at the school, where students can apply and learn if they are admitted in one day, and some colleges have further in-person talks at Butler Senior High.
“Now, what we will do is individual schools contact us and set up appointments with our students,” McGraw said. “Many of these schools will follow back up with the kids.”
Some students clearly took McGraw’s advice and could be seen walking around the cafeteria, arms filled with pamphlets and folders from the colleges they had met with.
Jocelynn Schrecengost, a senior at Butler Senior High School, said she went to the fair to see what options she had for a passion of hers post-high school.
“I wanted to see if any of them had something with photography,” Jocelynn said.
