Information sessions got a facelift this year as the Student Government Association and administration worked to streamline the autumn visits by prospective students.

Each year, the five career academies of the Monmouth County Vocational School District host information sessions to allow would-be freshmen to visit the school and learn about everything it has to offer.

While this year’s information sessions still hold that same goal in mind, the SGA and Principal James Gleason made changes to the layout of the sessions.

The changes were implemented at the first information session on Oct. 8. Student volunteers served as tour guides while SGA President Mark DiSpigna of Lincroft and Vice President Julia Pardee of Freehold hosted a question and answer session that also featured two teachers. This differed from past sessions, where students were either tour guides or spoke in each classroom.

Sophomore Kelly Forrester of Spring Lake Heights was a tour guide at the Oct. 8 session.

“I led around 20 people around the school and showed them everything and answered all the questions they had,” Forrester said. “They asked about the teachers, the dances and what I was most interested in. They asked a lot about homework, too.”

Additionally, a new student life brochure was given to attendees and showcased the different events, trips and clubs the school offers. Some prospective freshmen, like Fiona Gill of Wall, found this to be helpful.

“I really liked the student life brochure because it gave a glimpse of what it would be like going to the school as a student,” Gill said.

DiSpigna said the main goal of these changes was to shorten the information sessions, while also ensuring that no information was sacrificed.

“Mr. Gleason and the SGA felt that previous information sessions at CHS were too long,” DiSpigna said. “They used to run over two hours, but with the changes we have made, sessions were cut down to about an hour and 15 minutes.”

So far, Morgan has heard positive feedback regarding the new changes.

“Some of the things they liked were the panel discussion in the cafeteria, the new student life booklet and being able to ask one-on-one questions with the student tour guides while touring the building,” Morgan said. “From our perspective, the tour allowed people to see the school and it made filling out and collecting the application forms much smoother.”