High school students get college advice at Northern

Havre High School students got the chance Tuesday at Vande Bogart Library to ask former schoolmates who are now attending universities about their collegiate experiences.

Representatives from the admissions office at Montana State University-Northern organized a question-and-answer session between former Havre High School students who are now in various colleges around the state and one from New York City and current Havre High students who are about to graduate.

Kristi Peterson, director of the admissions office, asked the five 2014 Havre High graduates, who just finished their first semesters at their respective colleges, what their lives are like now and how they got to that point.

"Sometimes, we feel like we know what to expect, but I always encourage students to ask a lot of question," Peterson said.

She said that naturally she would would want students to attend Northern, but they are always there to help students pursue any college education.

Some of the topics put forth to the panel were class sizes, scholarship acquisitions, why they chose their colleges, what dormitory life was life, what the food situation at their college was like and what differences between high school and college instruction there are that incoming college freshmen can expect.

The college students chose their universities for various reasons.

Aubrey Worm chose Montana State University at Bozeman for its medical programs.

Jessa Pyette chose Pace University near New York City because it was the only university in the nation with the major she wanted, which is a bachelor's degree in film, television, voice-overs and commercials.

Jonathan Faber, who just completed his first year at Carroll College in Helena, said that one of the best lessons he learned throughout the semester was that of money-management.

"You're on your own; you have to make your own decisions," Faber said.

Pyette said that in New York City, the "city that never sleeps," she had to manage her time differently than she did in Havre.

The shock of having so many options of things to do after living in Havre affected her.

"This city doesn't sleep, but I need to," Pyette said.

It was a fairly common consensus that time-management was important to learn while attending a college. Balancing classes and the freedom of moving out on one's own is important, especially using free time to take care of assignments and project.

"As soon as you feel behind, it's too late," Peterson said, urging the future college students to not procrastinate in their work.

Another popular topic at the panel was that of the differences in idiosyncrasies of high school and university professors.

Pyette said it was important to realize that in high school teachers will come up to students individually and help them by giving them one-on-one attention. In university, however, this treatment must be instigated by the students.

It was again seemingly unanimously decided that the demeanors of the instructors were different. In high school, teachers are paced and more stoic. University-level instructors are "out there," and personalities are rampant.

Though turnout was low for this session, but Peterson said this would not be the only opportunity the admissions office would give high schoolers to talk to college students in such a format. She and Lindsay Brown, an admissions specialist at the office, said they plan on organizing more events like this.