Report from the 2011 Ontario College Information Fair -- Gretta Barnwell

A guest blog from Loyalist College's Gretta Barnwell

The Ontario College Information Fair dawned on what can only be described as a wet and dreary day, but inside Toronto’s Direct Energy Centre you would never have known. Representatives from the attending institutions swirled around displays in varying stages of construction in a mad dance of preparation for the 10 a.m. start. A number of new displays were in attendance this year, as well as QR codes, some fun interactive displays, and the usual giveaway contests. This year’s attendance included quite a few younger students than we have seen in previous years.  While we will have to wait for the total attendance numbers to be sure, attendance was focused in the morning, dying down around noon, and was much quieter throughout the remainder of the day than in previous years. 

This year marks my third OCIF event and while the displays and the staff change, the questions and concerns on many students’ minds stay the same: “Do you offer (insert program here)?” “What’s your residence like?” Do you have university transfer agreements?” The thing about these questions that I find so disquieting is the lack of understanding students and parents have when it comes to the big picture. The question many miss is, “how is your college right for me?” Somehow choosing an institution has turned into a “who’s cooler” contest. I’m not oblivious to the idea that we are all hoping students come to our college, and at the risk of untactful product placement, Loyalist College is a wonderful college, but each of us are different in more than just whatever impressive display we’ve brought out to the OCIF. I can’t recall how many times I repeated the phrase, “you have to look beyond a program name to the curriculum.” The idea that each college offers variations in programs doesn’t seem to have been reaching students until they have talked to me. What has stunned me over and over was the face of a student when I pitched them the thought, “would you buy a $20,000 car without looking up some details on it? Or take it for a test drive? So why would you choose to move away from home and go to a college at about the same ticket price without doing some research beyond the shiny ad?”

One of the most encouraging things I noted this year was a surge of parents more open and willing to consider their son or daughter taking a college path. It’s been an uphill battle for a number of years now to open minds set on university as the only option; to see it changing is wonderful. I know all of the colleges have worked towards this but it seems we need to thank the high skills majors and dual credits for helping us along. The most knowledgeable and eager students of the day, with parents in tow, were from this specialist group. They knew what questions to ask and they had a much better understanding of how the decisions they were making will affect them going forward into careers. Their parents were beaming.

Each year I have attended the OCIF I’ve found at the end of the event I’m as tired as I am energized.  It sounds a bit contradictory but it isn’t. The opportunity to help students realize their dreams is one of the greatest joys of recruitment. Doing it for 9 hours straight is the tiring part, but I wouldn’t miss it for the world.