It’s arguably the most important time of year for high schoolers in the Imperial Valley. A chance to prepare for the near future, Higher Education Week, which begins Monday, will allow high school seniors and junior opportunities to meet with university representatives one-on-one. “It’s absolutely vital that the students have face-to-face contact with representatives,” Brawley Union High School District Superintendent Robert Moreno said. “It makes it tangible for the students. And many of them need that verbal, one-on-one interaction.” Beginning Monday at Southwest and Central Union high schools in El Centro, college and university recruiters will be on site at all local high schools. Representatives from 14 California colleges will make themselves available for students and their parents. College fairs, application workshops and parent orientations will be set up daily through Thursday at each school.

“It’s an opportunity to get the kids excited,” Moreno said. “It creates a buzz and gives us and the universities an opportunity to publicize what’s out there.”

A joint effort by local high schools, the Imperial County Office of Education, the P16 Council — a committee operating under the College-going Initiative to aid students in getting to college — and state colleges, Higher Education Week was implemented four years ago. Trying to increase the number of high school students who continue their higher education, the week-long event is geared for all potential college students. “What’s going on now with Higher Education Week, all the students get access to recruiters,” P16 Council coordinator Javier Ramos said, “whereas previously, recruiters would only go to the bigger schools (locally). Now it’s a level playing field.” He said that in the four years since Higher Education Week has been around, more than 8,000 students locally have been served — attending two-year and four-year colleges. Anne Mallory, ICOE associate superintendent, said the most important point of Higher Education Week is the focus on students.

“This kind of focus helps increase the expectations for all children regardless of what their choices might be,” she said. “It definitely raises the bar and it raises your sights of possibilities that might not have been considered.”