Though she leads trips to colleges throughout the year, College Readiness and Workforce Education Counselor Kelly Semexant said many students do not often have the luxury of visiting campuses. That’s why, she said, Poughkeepsie High School’s annual College Fair is so important. 
“It makes it so much better when the students can actually talk one-on-one, in person, with our college reps and they can ask specific questions,” she said.
The 33rd annual fair was held Tuesday, with representatives from 64 different two- and four-year colleges, trade schools and military organizations visiting the high school’s gymnasium to speak with students of all grades in the school and eighth-grade honors students. 
“We had a ton of schools represented this year; we had a ton of SUNY schools,” Semexant said. “We had a specific school in the SUNY system which talks about an EOP, an Educational Opportunity Program, which is great for our students.”
In addition to staff, members of the National Honor Society, AFJROTC and other students assisted in setting up the fair and directing students around the room.
Prior to the fair each year, Semexant supplies students with suggested questions of what they may want to ask in a meeting with a college representative. This year, she and Science Department Chair Dr. Shannon Considine created another handout grouping schools by areas of study for students to more easily visit the tables corresponding to their interests.
However, “I tell all the students, if you don’t know what you want to major in right now, that’s completely fine. Not only is that fine, but that’s normal. It’s OK to not know,” Semexant said. “We want them to just kind of hit as many schools as possible and get an idea of just the way college works, and admissions, and that kind of stuff.”