Thrive Scholars used Gatherly for a 300+ Person College Fair

Thrive Scholars connected hundreds of students of color with top colleges in an immersive virtual college fair.

Sohan Choudhury
 min read

Virtual college fairs are essential

For Thrive Scholars, hosting virtual college fairs is critical in providing students of color from low-income communities the opportunities they need. By providing students the chance to meet representatives from top schools, Thrive Scholars helps land over 90% of Scholars in Top 100 colleges.

With college application season just around the corner, Thrive Scholars was looking to host a virtual college fair for over 300 students and 36 universities. Katie LaScaleia, program manager at Thrive Scholars, wanted to recreate the organic nature of an in-person college fair. Having used Gatherly previously for Thrive Scholar events, the choice of platform was a no-brainer!

Gatherly was the perfect choice

Thanks to the customizability of the Gatherly platform, Katie was able to design a layout with 6 unique floors featuring booths of 36 universities represented at the college fair.

As a result, during the event, students were able to seamlessly visit different booths with a single click, and switch between floors to access even more university booths.

Here’s what Katie had to say about the event experience:

Katie LaScaleia, Program Manager, Communications & Events at Thrive Scholars
"Gatherly was an exceptional platform and partner for our virtual college fair. Their team supported us throughout the planning stages to create an impactful experience for Scholars and college partners. During the college fair, Scholars were able to move around the space naturally and strike up conversations with admissions representatives just as they would at an in-person event. They had the opportunity to build authentic relationships and ask important questions as they embarked on their college application process. This type of organic interaction was facilitated by all the features the Gatherly event space offers, and we're looking forward to hosting future events on the platform." - Katie LaScaleia, Program Manager, Communications & Events

Attendees loved the event

The event, which drew in over 300 scholars and admissions officers from 36 top colleges across the U.S., was a hit amongst attendees! Here’s what one admissions officer had to say:

"I did appreciate how much this felt like an in person college fair. I appreciate your finding a platform that really worked hard to recreate that organic feel of an in person event where students are able to freely wander from table to table." - College admissions officer

For students, the event offered a unique opportunity to speak to admissions officers from a wide variety of schools. Here’s what one Thrive Scholar had to say:

"I had the opportunity to attend a virtual college fair where I spoke to different admissions officers. Through the friendly environment, my peers and I were able to ask specific questions tailored to our interests. In particular, I asked various college admissions officers about any research opportunities, volunteer opportunities, and medically affiliated courses offered at their college. Not only did I broaden my horizons of known majors, I also discovered various research opportunities, extracurriculars, and clubs offered at the college. I can happily say that these conversations positively impacted and reinforced my goal of pursuing a career in research and the medical field." - Student who attended the event

Thrive Scholars was able to provide clear value to both students and admissions officers at this unique virtual college fair, and are planning on hosting additional events on Gatherly in the future.

Subscribe to our newsletter!