ARS Girls Head Off to College for this year’s college week.

September 23-27 was the Ann Richards school’s annual College Week, featuring a college fair, college t-shirt day, and plenty of college visits. The week is a way for ARS students to make college more of a reality, rather than just a faraway idea.

Each day there would be some sort of college-related activity for the students to participate in, ranging from fun to serious, these activities helped students learn more about college and get excited about it.

“I would encourage students to look at the outcomes of a school, and how likely it is that you’ll be able to get a job or into grad school afterwards.” said Lizzie Elston (Abeline Christian University Admissions Counselor) at Monday’s high school college fair, “College visits are also very important and help you get a feel for the school. Outcomes and college visits are my top suggestions.”

Lizzie Elston was just one of the many representatives that came to ARS on Monday for the mini college fair. There were 35 colleges reps from all over the U.S.–with the exception of the University of Glasgow–available for the students to ask questions and learn more about what each school was like (see list at the end of article).

“I liked hearing about all the interesting traditions A&M has,” said junior, Erin Simons, “because it made A&M more than just another public university in Texas.”

Instead of the colleges coming to ARS again, each grade level also visited a different Texas college on Wednesday. 6th and 10th grade visited the University of Texas, 7th went to Texas State University, 8th traveled to Baylor University, 9th went to St. Edward’s University or Southwestern, 11th visited Texas A&M University, and the Seniors went to visit a college on their own. They learned about everything from the food at the schools, to the majors, and a whole lot in between.

“I really enjoyed visiting UT and College t-shirt Day was really great too. It was nice to wear my Georgetown t-shirt and I loved asking other people about the colleges on their t-shirts as well,” said sophomore, Meredith Oldham, on Friday of College Week.

The week was brought to a close with the students showing off some college spirit in their favorite college t-shirts and jeans. The 8th graders went even further though, taking their Baylor pride to the next level with the whole grade decked out in green Baylor tee’s.

College Fair:

Abilene Christian University

The University of Alabama

American University

Austin College

Bennington College

Chapman University

Earlham College

The George Washington University

University of Glasgow

University of Houston

Louisiana State University

Mercer University

Michigan State University

University of North Texas

University of North Texas Engineering

Sam Houston State University

Schreiner University

Seattle University

Sewanee: The University of the South

Southern Methodist University

Southwestern University

St. Edward’s University

St. Mary’s University of San Antonio

University of St. Thomas

Tarleton State University

Texas A&M University

Texas Lutheran University

Texas State University

Texas Tech University

Texas Woman’s University

The University of Texas, Austin

The University of Texas, Dallas

Trinity University

University of the Incarnate Word

Worcester Polytechnic Institute