In order to give high school students a sense of what college life is like, recent graduates are spending a day discussing with Lake Zurich students about their first college semester.

The Bears Back Home program will showcase graduates this Wednesday who will talk to students about what they learned in their first semester at college, Carl Krause, college counselor, said.

“I think it’s good for our current students to know that in a year’s time, they’ll be in these returning students’ shoes,” Krause said. “I think the returning students have a year of knowledge about the process [of college], what they wish they would’ve known, and things they ran into that they weren’t aware of that our current students will eventually have. I think that one year of college experience from being accepted to housing to classes is great information to hear from someone who has just done it.”

One student who is looking forward to attending the event is Jake Baffa, senior, who said he plans on asking questions about how the graduates chose the schools they are now attending.

“I currently have nine [schools] on my list and am having a very hard time narrowing it down, and it is very overwhelming having to choose,” Baffa said. “Hopefully they can give me some advice that can help me narrow my search.”

Learning from current college students is what Baffa says he hopes to gain from the event, compared to getting advice from people who graduated a while ago.

“While my parents have been a wealth of information, it will be nice to get advice from peers that are currently going through the experiences I will be going through in a year’s time,” Baffa said.

Learning life skills that he didn’t know entering college is what Jack Gelinas, Northeastern freshman, says he will share with current high school students.

“In all honesty, I would say I have ironically learned how much there is that I don’t know in this world,” Gelinas said. “It’s exciting, in a way, because I know now the immense room for growth that exists before me.”

Since the program’s creation four years ago, Gelinas and other graduates were chosen to speak about their college lessons based on a variety of factors, says Krause, while others volunteered to speak at the program.

“I have a close relationship with some of the graduates, whether it was through NHS or working with them through the college process,” Krause said. “Some kids I know so I just reached out to them. A couple kids actually offered to come back because they participated in it last year and they enjoyed it. I believe that as more kids participate in [the program], I think they will reach out to returning after graduation.”

If you are interested in attending the Bears Back Home event, graduates will be speaking at Wednesday’s lunch periods in the college center.