High school students in Lee County are invited to the school district’s College Night 2009.
Each year the district holds College Night to introduce students to more than 100 colleges from Florida and across the United States.
More than 2,000 students and their parents attended last year’s event.
This year the event will be held from 7-9 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Harborside Event Center in Fort Myers.
“It will have private, public and technical schools from all over the country,” said Jean Campbell, coordinator for Student Services. “They have booths set up so parents and students can go from from table to table and pick up information or talk to a representative.”
Students will be able to get information about colleges by filling out information cards and picking up literature at each of the respective tables.
Campbell said individual tables also will be dedicated to financial aid and the Southwest Florida Foundation, which has a database of local scholarships.
College Night 2009 is hosted by the Lee County School District and the city of Fort Myers. The city has agreed to cover the costs of using the event center.
Although the event is geared toward high school juniors and seniors, Campbell said younger students have attended the event in the past.
College Night started decades ago at Edison State College, and one year it was held at Edison Mall, she said. The district finally had a chance to host the event at Harborside four years ago and university representatives said it was a perfect venue.
“All of the representatives said it is comparable to a national college fair,” Campbell said.
Many Lee County graduates go on to universities, colleges or other institutions of learning after high school.
Of all the 2009 graduates, 3,200 went on to continue their education, according to post graduate data from the Lee County School District.
For example, 2,091 students attended a Florida public university or college, 340 a public community college and 274 to a Florida Technical school.
Students who graduated in 2009 also earned $35 million in scholarships.