College and career fairs growing in size, attendance, impact, importance.

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ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) -- Thousands of Snohomish County high school students are attending fairs this fall, but they won't be winning any blue ribbons for prized livestock or tasty pies.

Instead, their rewards might be scholarships, admission to a dream college or a connection to a trade.

College and career fairs are getting bigger and more organized and are better attended, said Roy Fentress, who has watched them grow over the past decade in his role as coordinator for advising and outreach at Everett Community College.

"I think the high schools have seen that it is very important," Fentress said. "I think these large fairs really bring a wide cross section of public, private (colleges) and large apprenticeship programs together."

Local educators point to a National Association for College Admission Counseling report that estimates the high school class of 2009 will include 3.3 million graduates and is likely to be the largest in the nation's history. They hope the life-after-high-school fairs will give students an edge.

Gina Burrill knows what it's like to be a mom wanting to get her kids into a good college. As a career counselor at Arlington High School, she also knows lots of students aren't college-bound.

"We have a diverse student body," Burrill said. "We want all students to have a plan, and we can't let them fall through the cracks."

In meeting graduation requirements to shadow adults at their jobs, Arlington students have explored dentistry and animal surgery, welding and fashion design, tattoo artistry and horse whispering.

The fall fair circuit is keeping Arlington students busy.

A busload of them drove south to join hundreds of other students from across Snohomish County to visit the National College Fair in Seattle, which drew around 20,000 people and roughly 400 colleges.

Last month, 69 students from Arlington High School and 56 from Weston High School attended the "What About Tomorrow Fair?" at Comcast Arena in Everett. More than 2,000 students from Everett, Edmonds, Lakewood, Arlington, Mukilteo and the Sno-Isle Tech Skills Center browsed booths from 74 schools and another 74 industries, including 18 aerospace and manufacturing businesses.

Recently, Arlington students got to stay on their home turf with colleges, universities, trade schools, military recruiters and apprenticeship programs offering up information in the school's commons.

Kevin Clevenger, a sophomore whose father has been in the Navy for 26 years, is considering the military and wants to fly jets or helicopters. "I would like to go to four years of college through the ROTC program and then join the Marines as an officer," he said.

Clevenger spent part of his afternoon asking colleges about their ROTC scholarships and quizzing the military branches about what they can offer, including health care and travel. He also did 18 pull-ups on a bar beside a Marine Corps informational booth.

Some college recruiters say they are seeing younger students ask questions.

"You see a lot more sophomores and juniors starting the college search process earlier," said John McClimans, an admissions counselor at Pacific Lutheran University. "I don't know if that is due to the generation or if it has to do with the good college and career counseling reaching out to students earlier."

Blake Petersen, 16, an Arlington High sophomore, was one of the early birds at his school's college fair, asking questions about PLU's pre-medicine options.

"It seems like a far way off, but freshman year went by so fast and they say it only gets faster," he said.

Many fairs have breakout sessions on issues such as financial aid, savings plans for college and navigating the maze of admissions applications.

At the Arlington fair, for example, Jennifer Shoen offered advice to students about how to write personal essays, dispensing advice and anecdotes.

Shoen, part of the University of Washington's team of application screeners, said for instance that good personal letters typically are written over three weeks with plenty of time for students to write, rewrite and think about how to improve their submissions. She also advised students not to catch "thesaurus-itis" and not to write what they imagine the school's screeners want to hear.

Senior Matt Lind said the fair was valuable.

"It was really nice to hear what I have been learning in class (about applications) was what she was saying," he said. "It was a good positive reinforcement."