It’s lunchtime. Most students rush to the cafeteria, but some have signed up for a lunchtime college visit. They head to the College and Career Center (CCC), but are surprised to discover that the college visits have been relocated.

The CCC’s move from the E200 hall to the former parents’ center on the E100 hall has caused college visits, formerly held in the CCC, to move to the theatre atrium. The result has been confusion for students.

Every senior is familiar with the numerous  college visits in the CCC during the first semester. In previous years, students gathered  in the CCC to listen to college representatives promote  their colleges, while answering student questions in a quiet environment. .

Due to limited space in the new CCC, college visits moved to the theater atrium. Students and college recruiters complain the new location is  more disruptive and confusing.         

“[Changing locations] was definitely a learning curve for students, volunteers and college recruiters,” CCC volunteer Anita Downing said. “The atrium is not always a quiet space. It can be difficult for the recruiter to keep students engaged when [they] might see their buddy outside in the courtyard.”

Instances such as class transitions and lunchtime chaos made it difficult for college representatives to meet with students.

“There were several instances where students banged loudly on the door instead of just tapping, which made it very disruptive for the recruiters to talk with their groups,” CCC volunteer Lisa Pittman said. “To a lesser degree, students were distracted from the recruiters due to the constant in and out of other students moving through the atrium.”

Students who attended college visits in the atrium also noticed disruptions that were not present in college visits that were held in the CCC.

“I’ve been to at least five [college visits] this year,” senior Hannah Prausnitz-Weinbaum said. “It was definitely really disruptive to be in the atrium because there were a bunch of loud people walking around and people would walk through that area. [These disruptions] were mostly during lunch and class transitions.”

In addition, moving from the CCC to the theater atrium puts extra work on volunteers. They have to make sure the CCC is fully staffed as many volunteers need to stay in the atrium to assist students and representatives.

“The janitors helped set up the tables for college visits, but we had to make sure we brought down [from the CCC] all the sign up sheets, passes, water and materials, and we moved the [CCC whiteboard] in and out of the courtyard everyday,” CCC volunteer Jessica Heilweil said.

Many students are unaware of the new location of the college visits, and therefore less students show up to them.

“Anecdotally, there seemed to be a lot less students showing up for college visits,” Heilweil said.

The two new college advisors, Damisi Fawole and Modupe Salimonu, were located in the CCC up until early October. This contributed to there not being adequate space in the CCC for college visits because Fawole and Salimonu’s desks took up some of the room’s space.

“Our goal is to get as many students as we can to enter and complete some form of post-secondary education,” Salimonu said.

However, Fawole and Salimonu have moved out of the CCC and into the former attendance office in the cafeteria, where there is more than enough space for private meetings with students. From now on, college visits will be held in the CCC again. The volunteers are working to notify students of this new change.

“There was an announcement in the GradyGram (PTSA weekly newsletter); it is posted on our website, and we are letting students know as they come in the CCC,” Pittman said.

The volunteers hope to let every student know about the changes in location of college visits as quickly as possible by using Remind 101 text messages, emails, and by writing information on college visits on the whiteboard outside of the CCC.

“The CCC is a place where all students can feel at home [and] can ask the most personal questions to college reps and get honest answers,” Downing said. “There are very few venues where you can ask questions and get answers from college reps and get that one-on-one attention.”