Coral Reef Senior High School: Miami's Mega-Magnet School

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Coral Reef Senior High School College Fair

MIAMI, FLORIDA - November 4, 2009 – Ms. Jeanne Harper, CAP Advisor, Coral Reef Senior High School, organized representatives from over 140 colleges and universities for the Coral Reef Senior High School College Fair for students and their parents. This was an excellent opportunity for over 2,000 parents and students in attendance to connect with an admission representative at a college of interest. This college fair brought prospective students and their parents face to face with representatives of educational institutions of all kinds, from large state public universities to small private liberal arts four-year universities.

Wanna-be engineers, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs, physicians, and other teens with college careers on their minds attended the largest private public high school event in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, which drew college recruiters from around the country, along with a few from Europe.

Students cruised the aisles with parents, browsing among the information tables offering information on everything from well-known colleges to smaller institutions. Colleges brought their most attractive brochures and students had breathless questions ranging from "How hard is it to get in?" to "What are the inclusive costs ? " What is important is how to get the most from the college fair experience? Students should know the difference between four-year and community colleges, between public and private, between academic and vocational programs.

Students and parents asked questions of themselves to define what they are seeking. What is your average class size? How big is the student body? What percentage of students get financial aid? (Private universities may be more affordable than you think.) How much student housing is there? (Even some two-year schools, have housing.) What are your popular majors? (This tells you what majors are likely to have good resources and faculty.)

Many experts disagree on whether college fairs are appropriate for high school freshmen, but most said the experience is valuable. It may even help plan the student’s high school schedule. Sophomores should get exposure to the options and begin to see what kinds of post-high school institutions exist. Juniors, for whom the fairs are most useful, should be narrowing their choices based on informational brochures and questions they ask recruiters. Seniors, who are just a few months from application deadlines, should be using this as a chance to make the final cuts. Parents may have different questions than the students. They tend to be more about finances and less about majors, weather or the Greek system. Both kinds of questions are important.

After the fair the students and their parents found it is time to decompress and then sort and absorb the information overload. Instead of worrying how to tailor the student to the school, they figure out what schools will be the perfect fit for them.

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Coral Reef Senior High School, Miami's Mega-Magnet, opened its doors in 1997 as a $32.3 million facility. Coral Reef is located in the Southwest of Miami-Dade County adjacent to the Richmond Heights community on 59 beautifully landscaped acres. Two open courtyards enhance the ambiance of the school environment. The campus includes a seven-acre community park, four outdoor basketball courts, six tennis courts, a quarter-mile track, football and soccer practice fields, and softball and baseball fields. In additional, there is an agriscience land-laboratory containing a greenhouse, garden, and aquatic and small animal areas. Large gatherings of students, parents and community members can be comfortably accommodated in the state-of-the-art school auditorium, which seats 804, and the gymnasium, which can accommodate over 2,000 people. The building itself measures 306,000 square feet excluding the courtyard, which measures over one acre. The initial budget was projected at $64.5 million, but when completed on June 19, 1997 the project required less money. Coral Reef Senior High School is a unique four-year mega-magnet high school comprised of six academics: International Studies/International Baccalaureate; Business/Finance; Agriscience/Engineering Technology; Leisure Medicine/Health Sciences; Visual/Performing Arts; and Legal/Public Affairs. In additional to the academic, a comprehensive program of activities and athletics is available to all students. Coral Reef maintains close ties with numerous community professionals, business, and agencies. Since the students have all applied to attend (and subsequently been selected by lottery) and parents/community totally support school programs, and environment exists which promotes: high levels of academic commitment to the school and outside community, and preparation for future success in the students, approximately 24 percent of whom are white, non-hispanic students, 24 percent are African-American students, 45 percent are Hispanic students, and eight percent are autistic, emotionally handicapped, as well as other health impaired. Visit Coral Reef Senior High School at http://coralreef.dadeschools.net for more information.

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