At Stoughton High School, every year, there are many college and military visits for students to attend if they wish. This October, there were 16 college visits from many UW Schools, including UW Madison, and other schools such as the University of Minnesota-Duluth and Drake University. The school also offers college visits in the spring.
Lindsay Snyder is the Administration Assistant at SHS; she organizes all of the college visits at the school. The purpose of these college visits is to provide information to students who are interested in furthering their education past high school.
“They talk about upcoming days for campus tours, admission information, scholarship information, what’s being offered, and generally after […] they’ll have a Q&A,” Snyder says about the visits. Any student who has a question about a college, or wants more general information, can go to these meetings to gain more information about the application process, specific dates, scholarships, and more.
“In addition to receiving an Infinite Campus blast to your school account, there’s also a QR code right in front of the counseling window, and you can sign up there, or you can sign up with any counseling [staff] to attend,” Snyder says.
These visits are only for juniors and seniors and happen during class time. The counseling staff has information about all these visits, and they send out an email about upcoming visits as well as put them in the morning announcements.
Lindsey Wyngaard is a representative from Lawrence University. She came to SHS for a college visit on Oct. 7.
Every college visit is a little different, but they usually follow the same basic setup.
“I usually start with a brief overview of [the college.] And then I will ask if students have any questions, and then I’ll kind of touch on different parts of campus,” Wyngaard says. “College visits are about 30-45 minutes. So, a decent chunk of time to get questions answered,” Wyngaard says.
In addition to answering general questions, she also tries to touch on specific majors, as many students have majors in mind when they choose a college and want to know more about their specific programs. Usually, part of the visit is a presentation and general information session, but the rest of the time is dedicated to answering questions students might have. There is usually contact information or booklets provided with more information as well.
There will still be plenty more college visits later this year, with some already planned for November. Along with college visits, the Navy and Military visits occur over lunch for students interested in that path instead. Students can sign up for these visits in the counseling office or through email with any counseling staff.
“Anyone can sign up, but you have to be a Junior or Senior,” Snyder says