High school students from Lakeside, Doyline, Glenbrook and Minden were given an opportunity to look at their options after high school.
Minden High School hosted its annual College Night, and principal Robin Tucker says it gives juniors and seniors a chance to meet with recruiters to find out more about where they might want to go to college.
“We have over 40 post-secondary institutions here for students to visit with and see if they’re possibly interested at some point,” she said. “It just gives students an opportunity to see what’s available in our area. We always have really good attendance at this event.”
The makeup of the institutions included vocational colleges, four-year colleges and branches of the military, she said.
Lakeside junior Janie Watson, 16, says she has a good idea of where she wants to go to school.
“I pretty well know what school I want to go to, but I want to see what all of my options are,” she said. “I’m pretty sure I want to go to Tech, but I want to see if anything closer offers the same thing.”
She says she wants to be a high school counselor with a minor in law.
Sgt. Ashley Beverage, a recruiter with the Louisiana Army National Guard, says students can join the guard as early as their junior year and go to an in-state school tuition-free once they graduate high school.
“Tuition exemption is our best benefit, which means when they go to college in a state public school, a university college, they are exempt from tuition,” she said. “If they want to go to school outside of Louisiana, we offer tuition assistance.”
Cindy Robertson, a business instructor at Remington College, says Remington, a nonprofit school, is a “fast-track” college where students can get degrees faster. For example, a 24-month program will only take 18, or a 48-month program will only take 36.
“We’re kind of in between a community college and a career college because we do have associates degree programs and bachelor degree programs, not just online,” she said.
The annual college night is sponsored by Minden High School and the National Honor Society.