The annual Building Your Future Day for the junior class of 2022 was structured quite differently than years before. The event took place in person on Friday February 5, 2021.

Juniors from both Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 arrived at school in person at 8:30 a.m. and were separated into four groups alphabetically. Students were then assigned a location that they had to stay in for the entirety of the day, which included the theater, Great Hall, library and library conference room.

Every student would then sit in a socially distanced order and “Zoom” into each session to learn about the college process virtually. The day was half as long as the past years and the sessions were crammed into 45 minutes instead of the usual hour and a half. “We didn’t want students to come in for a full day, because we didn’t want to deal with the lunch issue and social distancing with so many kids. We basically merged four presentations into two sections, the college application with the essays, and finding the right college with majors and careers,” Counselor Ms. Amy Larson said.

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Some juniors find the experience to be beneficial, while others would disagree. Varsity hockey player Emma Peschel, committed to Ohio State University, went into the process already knowing where she will be attending college. “I thought it was helpful with learning more about majors and building your extracurricular resume. However, it was mostly focused on picking a school that is right for you, and some of us already knew that going into it,” Peschel said.

Those who have decided not to take the commitment route have found Building Your Future day to be somewhat useful. “I think what was most helpful was the information about applying and the assistance with college essays. I found more college options with the assignments that they had us complete, which really helped me zone in on what I wanted in a school,” junior Avery Junker said.

Although Building Your Future day included the same information as before, the structure of the day had to be modified and adjusted to meet the COVID requirements. The students would “Zoom” into each session at the same time and watch it live. “We didn’t have the speakers live because it would only be live in one room and not for the others; there was really no point. All of the videos, PowerPoints and information from Building Your Future day are on PowerSchool [Learning], so students and parents can watch whenever,” Larson said.

Building Your Future day was beneficial in numerous ways, however, having the event take place virtually created the possibility to have less of an impact. “I thought it was overall a good experience, but since it was virtual it was hard to feel a connection to the people presenting. I feel like it could have been more enjoyable if there was more of a collaborative element with other students,” Junker said.