Juniors at NUHS made their way to Minnesota State University, Mankato on Tuesday, Oct. 10 to participate with other schools around the area in a college fair. 

 One of the juniors who took part in the trip was Jasmin Huerta. As of right now, her ideal major would be in Early Childhood Education, and to be a teacher. Going into the day she already knew she would want to stop by the MSU, SMSU, U of M, and UMD booths to get some more information of what they had to offer. While maneuvering through the many colleges some of the accommodations she kept in her mind were that the college had a dance team and on-campus dorms. 

At the end of the trip, she had many brochures and information about many different colleges and found new interests in Grand Canyon University. “It was a great experience and showed me a lot of colleges that have my career interest,” Jasmin said. 

MSU held the college fair inside their ballroom one of the first doors when walking into campus located near the lounge area. The room was filled with rows and rows of tables that each had flyers and brochures that you could pick up and a college representative that you could talk to. Students also had a designated barcode that the college representatives could scan, so the students could receive emails and mail about different things going on with the college.

Students spent a couple of hours visiting the over 50 colleges. Colleges from Arizona, Kansas, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, and of course Minnesota were all available for students to talk to and receive information from.

“We believe it is a very good way to start the ‘life after high school’ process. I truly believe students will get out of it what they put into it,” NUHS counselor Mr. Ziemer said. The experience over all allows students to feel the beginning of the next chapter in their lives.

New Ulm Juniors have been given the opportunity to visit college fairs for over 17 years with the exception of the couple of years that we were affected by Covid restrictions. Before this year students made the trip to the National Convention of Minneapolis and SMSU, Marshall, but this year they made the change to MSU, Mankato. 

NUHS has provided students with resources and tools for their future from the start of freshman year. Freshman and Sophomore students are intended to complete a set of career lessons provided by MNCIS. Freshman-year students focus more on acquiring different life skills including how to write a resume, appropriate attire, and appropriate speaking habits while in a job interview. While the career lessons taken during sophomore year are focused on taking steps for college, including exploring career clusters, taking career quizzes, and finding colleges that fit their personal needs, wants, and interests.

Starting in late October, a few Minnesota colleges will start visiting NUHS to give Juniors and Seniors the chance and opportunity to gather information on some of the colleges they may be interested in or would like to dive deeper into. This year colleges visiting include St. Cloud State, Dakota State, Concordia College, North Dakota State, Saint Benedict, Saint John’s, UMD, and MSU.