By NINA SEN

At the Small Public High School Fair held at the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC), excited faces were everywhere. Potential students, their parents, and school representatives came together to make the daunting high school application process a little more manageable.

Out of 114 high schools in the Bronx (excluding transfer schools), 22 sent their representatives to the Norwood fair. Although some Manhattan schools were also invited, they did not attend.

Latisha Watson, family choice coordinator/counselor for MMCC’s Educational Counseling Center, organized the event and was very pleased with the record number of attendees. "It’s important for this community [because] there’s not enough emphasis on education," Watson said.

Increasing numbers of existing Bronx high schools are being sliced into smaller, more student-focused schools, where the emphasis is on individual attention and interaction.

"Small schools were largely unknown entities three years ago when we began to transform our high school admissions process," Chancellor Klein stated in a press release last year. "But word is spreading, and more and more students are picking new small schools as their top choices."

In 2006, 83 percent of students applying for admission to public high schools matched one of their top five choices, and 43 percent matched their first choice.

One good source for information, the prospective high school student’s Bible, is the Directory of The New York City Public High Schools 2007-08 edition, where all city high schools list their requirements, 2006 intakes, special programs and mission statements. The book is usually available at junior high schools in any borough.

Once the applications are received, each high school admissions staff ranks each student and makes recommendations based on GPA, standardized test scores and/or attendance history. In early spring, students will receive their match and start preparing for the challenges of high school.

Ed. note: The Bronx Borough High School Fair will be held on Saturday, Oct. 20 and Sunday, Oct. 21 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Theodore Roosevelt Educational Campus, 500 E. Fordham Rd. Go to schools.nyc.gov for more information. And for more help and information about the high school applications process, call the Educational Counseling Center at (718) 882-4000.