Recent Graduates Return to HRA for Annual Alumni College Fair

During the afternoon of Thursday, January 8, members of Hampton Roads Academy’s Classes of 2022 to 2025 reconnected with their alma mater and formed new connections with current Upper Schoolers at the College Counseling Office’s 2026 Alumni College Fair.

The annual on-campus event gave students in Grades 9 through 12, spanning diverse phases of the college-preparatory experience, the opportunity to speak with 23 young alumni representing 18 colleges and universities, from William & Mary just up the road to Princeton University in New Jersey. Through friendly and relaxed conversations, the recent graduates offered younger Navigators an invaluable first-hand perspective from students with a similar background to guide them as they chart their post-graduation paths.

“The HRA experience provides a finely-tuned preparation for college, so having HRA alumni describe their own college experiences is more of an ‘apples-to-apples’ frame of reference than information coming from a college rep about whom [students] know nothing,” said Assistant Head of School and Director of Upper School Ben Rous, who initiated the fair five years ago while serving as Director of College Counseling. Attendees’ personal connection to the alumni visitors, he noted, “gives them both a more textured picture of the college being ‘repped’ and a sense of how to be successful in college.”

Familiar Faces

Upper School English teacher and Dean of Students Laurie Hager, then a member of HRA’s college counseling team, first proposed the idea for an Alumni College Fair in winter 2021. One of her team’s main priorities was “making our more recent graduates feel valued and connected to the life of the school,” Hager recalled. “It was a great way to welcome former students back, check in with their experiences, and have them interact with current students, as well as their faculty and coaches.”

The fair continues to play an important role in maintaining a strong alumni network that can function as a resource for students at HRA.

“I chose to volunteer for the Alumni College Fair because I remember how easily the college search can turn into a scoreboard or competition—and how much I had valued the honest conversations with other alumni who’d just lived it,” said Paul Bennett Northam’25, now in his first year at Cornell University. “Young alumni’s input is especially important because we can discuss what admission officers avoid—our likes and dislikes, surprises, struggles, and questions we wish we’d asked before committing. A school can provide opportunities, but it cannot guide you through them.”

For current students, first-hand guidance is perhaps the greatest benefit of interacting with recent graduates who choose to return to campus. HRA’s Upper Schoolers have opportunities to attend multiple college fairs each year, including the Tidewater Independent Schools College Fair in the spring. Only at the Alumni College Fair, though, is every “representative” at every school’s table either a familiar face or a young adult who recently walked the halls of HRA.

Caroline Rous ’24, currently a sophomore at the University of Mary Washington, explained that she volunteered for the Alumni College Fair because she remembered the event fondly from her time at HRA. “I found it a lot more meaningful hearing about the schools I was interested in from my peers, especially since I had more of a casual and honest relationship with them,” she said.

As Upper School government teacher and Associate Director of College Counseling Christopher Hailey, who organized this year’s fair, pointed out, this “built-in familiarity and interest” means that “it’s not just learning about colleges—it’s seeing old friends.”

According to Hailey, a peer-to-peer connection is a particular asset to ninth and tenth graders, who are not yet in the thick of a college search and may be unfamiliar with college fair settings. In these environments, he said, “it’s incumbent on kids to ask good questions” in order to learn about the schools represented. “We hope that that kind of conversation is a little easier when it’s someone who’s 19 or 20 years old and perhaps they know well to begin with.”

Even for juniors and seniors, a discussion with a current college student, as opposed to an admissions official working to “sell” his or her college or university, lends itself to more personal stories about a school. As Hailey observed, these conversations move beyond generalities about what various institutions offer to the specifics of why alumni chose their colleges and what makes them happy there.

Admissions Insights

In order to help current students take full advantage of this unique opportunity, the College Counseling Office provided brief profiles of the schools represented prior to the fair, covering each institution’s location, campus type, and student population, along with a fun fact. Hailey and his colleagues also supplied sample questions that the students might pose to the alumni to learn about such subjects as their relationships with professors, their academic challenges and triumphs, student support resources available on their campuses, and the biggest surprises they had encountered since entering college.

In line with HRA’s values-first approach to college counseling, these questions—which could serve as a model for conversations with representatives at future college fairs—were designed to “tap into [students’] vision of the kind of college they’re interested in,” Hailey said. Academics constitute only one aspect of this vision. Through such experiences as November’s junior college tour as well as the Alumni College Fair, the College Counseling Office aims to expose students to large and small institutions, urban and rural campuses, colleges close to home and far away, and schools with distinct cultures to help them determine the best fit for their personal goals and priorities.

“Kids always talk about ‘vibe,’” Hailey said. “What I want to know is, ‘What do you mean when you say ‘vibe’? Distinguish between the kind of vibe you’re interested in and the kind of vibe you’re not interested in. Tell me what that means.’ When we do that, then we can help them build the list” of colleges to which they will apply, which Hailey described as “a living, breathing thing.”

Hearing from recent peers and fellow Navigators allowed current students to connect their educational options with familiar personalities, imagine themselves on various types of campuses, and assess whether they would thrive there. By all indications, the insights they drew from the Alumni College fair were immensely valuable and validating.

Though he is already approaching the end of the college admissions process, senior Zack Patten ’26 found the event illuminating. He reported that he had the opportunity to interact with HRA graduates who are currently attending many of the schools to which he applied and hear about internships that might enrich his studies and help lay a foundation for a future career. He greatly appreciated “getting to learn more about these opportunities that people have done and are passing on.”

Junior Dayja Weeks ’27, who is just beginning her formal college search, felt empowered to ask her former peers about topics that admissions representatives typically would not discuss, such as social life on their respective campuses. On this too often overlooked topic, her conversations were revealing. “I learned that weekends look a lot different at certain colleges,” she said.

Significantly, speaking to fellow Navigators currently in college opened Weeks’ eyes to “how well HRA prepares you.” The Alumni College Fair bolstered her confidence that, if other HRA students could successfully navigate this next chapter, she would be up to the challenge herself.