On Tuesday, September 9, Jesuit’s cafeteria, gym, Terry Center, and classrooms transformed. Tables filled with pamphlets and information about 249 colleges from around the country and even outside the country, including schools from France and Switzerland.
A tradition for the past three to four decades, Jesuit’s annual College Night has been a great success, attracting more and more students every year. This year, students from Jesuit and other local Catholic schools—including John Paul II High School and Cistercian Preparatory School—filled the campus to see the array of colleges visiting.
“College Night is intended to introduce juniors and their families to the college process and to learn about all the options out there,” said senior counselor Mr. David Oglesby. “For seniors who’ve already been through it once, it’s to get more specific information about certain colleges and to be noticed so the colleges will see you’ve shown interest.” That sentiment was echoed by many students, including Hunter Gilbert ’16, sharing, “It was very nice to realize how many options we have.”
Junior counselor Mr. Dan Lingel sees College Night as a way to be a role model within the community as “providing [College Night] to both our families and to the other Catholic high schools in town is a good way to be men and women for others.” Further, he said it is a “statement to the reputation” of Jesuit, as we “draw so many good colleges to our College Night,” a testament to our students and staff.
This year, schools included well-known Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Columbia, popular state schools like the University of Texas and Texas A&M, international schools such as The American University of Paris and Franklin University in Switzerland, and lesser-known colleges from all around the country.
As Mr. Oglesby explained, College Night is also a way for colleges to get their names out there. “It probably benefits smaller colleges more than anyone else,” he said. Especially for smaller colleges, he explained, many of them want students to know who they are and what programs they have available. “That’s really who fights to get into it—the colleges with populations under 1700 students.”
Unlike last year, which was noticeably cramped because of construction, Jesuit was able to spread out the myriad of colleges throughout the campus—making full use of areas like the B-hallway, Terry Center, lecture hall, and gym, which ultimately helped due to the sheer volume of people who attended—“easily a couple thousand” people, as Mr. Lingel said.
Overall, students and faculty alike viewed it as a success. “I loved those moments where someone came out with a giant handful of pamphlets and a big grin on their face saying the college process will be fun,” shared Mr. Lingel. “Even though it was crowded, I thought College Night was a great experience,” said Brandon Mai ’16. “It was a great way to start the college search process.”
