Twenty-five recent graduates of Sacred Hearts Academy returned to speak to current students about college, tips on how to survive college and how to make students stand out on college applications on at the annual Alumnae Forum.

“Take your time with your written responses on the college application. Make sure you don’t just make things up, and you actually put effort into it. It makes a difference,” said 2012 alumna and current UNLV accounting student Charissa Cazimero.

The Academy has hosted the forum for about 14 years. Its purpose is to expose students to the college process and how to plan in advance.

“We expanded the forum to freshmen, sophomores and middle schoolers this year so they can start planning even earlier, and so they know what they’ll be doing later on,” said college counselor Randy Fong.

Before the forum, graduates hosted a miniature college fair during lunch when students could ask questions about the colleges and hear what the colleges have to offer from a student’s point of view.

There were 20 different colleges represented at the miniature college fair.

Alumnae were asked questions about schedules, responsibility, time management, professors and the transition from high school to college.

“I’m glad they extended it to the lower grades this year because I truly learned a lot. It kind of scared me because I realized there’s so much to do for college! I liked the fact we got to hear from real college students,” said sophomore Kaela Fiesta.