After a three-year hiatus, Marlborough re-established the course fair, an event where students approach department tables to gain more information about specific courses before making their decisions for the following year. The event occurred in the East Atrium on March 12 and was open to students in all grade levels.
The course fair was created to help students figure out which classes are the best fit for them and their schedules in the coming school year. The school wanted to provide the opportunity for students to explore the offerings of all the departments in one place.
“The goal is to make sure that students have access to department heads and teachers of the classes that they might be thinking about signing up for in order to get all of their questions answered at one time,” Head of Upper School Regina Rosi Mitchell said.
Each department was given one table where teacher representatives were able to answer questions about the class offerings within their respective departments. Previously, students operated the tables, but the administration decided that having teachers working the tables provides more accurate information about the course load.
“We still think that student output is important,” Rosi Mitchell said. “However, sometimes students share information about how a course workload can cause an amount of stress that isn’t always accurate for every individual.”
The course fair is particularly helpful for 10th graders choosing their classes, as they have increased class offerings. For example, with three different history courses being newly offered, students have more options than in previous years.
“As a senior now, I would have loved to have the course fair as a 10th grader,” Grayson ’24 said. “I feel like it gives students a good understanding of which classes to take since the classes you take in junior year tend to affect the ones you take in senior year.”
Additionally, some students who attended the event felt it helped them navigate how their course decisions for the following school year.
“The course fair really helped me because I was trying to figure out more about the GIF program and how to join it,” Lizzie ’27 said. “All I had to do was approach the table and they gave me all of the information.”
Above all, the administration revamped the course fair to allow for an exciting experience where students can visualize their future years at Marlborough by bringing in real-life examples of the course material.
“I hope that students who attended the event got excited about seeing all of the different options,” Rosi Mitchell said. “The course fair is a very visual, living and breathing representation of the multitude of truly amazing opportunities we have within the school.”
