Summit Academy holds college fair, by Nathan Weiser

On March 16, Summit Academy charter school hosted their second college fair. The fair, which was held in Summit’s gym, gave students an opportunity to learn about college admissions, financial aid, housing, degree programs and dorms. Questions answered to help in their college search.

Some of the colleges that were represented at the college fair were Manhattan College, University of Connecticut, SUNY New Paltz, Utica University, University of Maine, NJIT, Kean University, St. Francis College, University of Rhode Island and Virginia State.

The college fair has grown significantly since the first one last year. According to Kim Cincotta, who is the college and career readiness coordinator, 15 colleges came last year and this year there were 25 in the gym.

They also had the US Army, the National Guard and Universal Technical Institute since some students are interested in trade schools or the army. The US Army has been going to a few different schools letting students know about benefits.

Cincotta chose the schools that would be represented at the college fair based on the schools this year’s seniors are interested in or ones that past seniors have applied to. She thought they got a good turnout of schools.

“I personally reach out to each college they are interested in, reach out to the reps and hope they can come join us to give more information,” Cincotta said.

“All week they have been prepared with who is coming and questions to ask them,” Cincotta said. “Some of them are really interested in sports so they are asking about the sports teams they have. Our juniors and seniors are asking more closely about what they are interested in, like their majors.”

Many of Summit’s 35 seniors had applied and had been accepted to a lot of schools already. A few of them even applied at the college fair at the school’s table.

Last year, a couple of Summit students took a gap year, but most of the students went to four year colleges.

This is Cincotta’s second year at Summit as the college coordinator. In her first year, they tried to have college tours but were not able to due to Covid, so she brought the colleges to the school and the students liked it, which led her to do it again.

Summit’s middle school students were also involved in the college fair. They had a scavenger hunt card to fill out, which was organized by the middle school guidance counselor Helen Pepperman.

They organized this activity with the middle schoolers to show that it’s never too early to plan ahead and think about what is important.

“Especially for our eighth graders, we want to tell them your grades and what you do in high school prepares you for college, so it gives them motivation,” Pepperman said.

“This is the big event to really expose as many of our students as possible,” Cincotta said.