Many upperclassmen spend their last two years preparing, applying and enrolling in colleges and universities. In fact, some academically intense high school students begin looking for secondary school options as early as the beginning of his or her sophomore year. “I started the college process my junior year and I have allotted an hour and half to two hours each week for college application,” said senior Alex Day.

After putting countless hours into the college-decision process, Day and other upperclassmen received a golden opportunity to make fantastic progress in choosing their dream university or college: The North Atlanta College Fair that was held on Aug. 20.

The event – held in the school gymnasium brought together a who’s who of all-star colleges. Attendees included Auburn University, Duke University, Florida State University, UGA, Georgia Tech, Miami University, University of Denver, Princeton University, SCAD and Vanderbilt University. Hundreds of juniors and seniors attended the event.

Beyond the college “bigs,” students were also able to visit with representatives from smaller, private schools. The list of these colleges included Shorter, Ave Maria University, Champlain College and Claremont McKenna College. There also were international schools including schools from Switzerland, Italy, Spain along with Scotland’s representative, the University of St Andrews. Also in attendance Union College, the 2014 NCAA Division I Hockey Champions. The event was not only a good place to figure out which college a student was interested in but to also find the inspiration for a possible major, much less decide he or she wanted to go to college.

With more than 200 schools in attendance of the fair, North Atlanta’s gym was a bustling vortex of students planning their futures and searching for their life’s course.

“The fair changed me entirely. Now that I’ve seen what colleges have to offer in the academics and Greek life, I am definitely going to go,” said junior Kal Staley.

Alas, an intercom announcement from Mr. Douglass meant all attendees had to go back to class, leaving behind perky college representatives and much-sought-after free merch samples. They soldiered back to math or English or whatever with newfound inspiration about what to do with their lives after high school. Mission accomplished, North Atlanta College Fair 2016!