By: Edir Coronado
Students at Governor Livingston High School had the opportunity to paint a clearer picture for their future on October 5, 2016 during the school’s first college fair. Orchestrated by the Director of Guidance, Ashley Janosko and Vice Principal, Tara Oliveira, these two educators wanted to give students the opportunity to meet representatives from several prominent institutions. About 85 representatives traveled from across the country to meet with Berkeley Heights and Mountainside’s students and their families.
Janosko, who started working at Governor Livingston High School two years ago, first approached her colleagues with the idea of hosting a college fair shortly after she arrived at the school, the response was an overwhelming amount of support and excitement about the vision. Janosko has an extensive background in counseling and mentoring children to achieve their full potential; prior to her employment at Governor Livingston, she was a guidance counselor at Bernards High School for seven years. She holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling and is completing her Doctorate Her dedication to students is reflected in her academics. It’s fitting that Janosko is the person who would unveil Governor Livingston’s very first college fair.
liveira and Janosko, with the help of Principal Robert Nixon, as well as several school employees, hosted an extremely successful event. To an unknowing observer, one might be misled into thinking that putting together a college fair is an effortless task. Janosko explained that two years ago when the idea was presented, the blueprint as to how the event would take place had to be created. The first, and most important piece of the puzzle, is allotting enough money in the budget to host such an event. After the funds were available, the next step was securing the date, time, and location. The event planners had to be certain alternative events were not taking place simultaneously.
After the bureaucratic red tape was cut, the remaining task of contacting organizations began, which was not an easy evolution. The amount of institutions that were willing to attend was abundant and the staff was grateful. Before the event began, with knowledge of these establishment’s representative’s schedule in mind, a hot meal was prepared for them, as a gesture of gratitude.
The efforts put forth by the school’s educators were reciprocated by the school’s pupils, with an estimated 500-700 in attendance. The event was not only open to students of Governor Livingston or the towns the high school hosts; Berkeley Heights and Mountainside, it was open to students in surrounding towns. Janosko explains that not only was this the first college fair at Governor Livingston, it was also the only college fair in the area.
The college fair began at 7 p.m., from the moment the doors opened, floods of students poured into the school’s gyms, where a sea of higher institutions were lined up, ready to welcome their next batch of students. Parents and children roamed the gyms bouncing from table to table, gathering more paperwork with information than they could hold.
