NORMAL - Normal Community High School seniors filled the U.S. Cellular Coliseum on Wednesday for a sneak peek at the site of their May 31 commencement ceremony and to learn about how to make the transition from high school into the next phase of their lives.

In their first-ever senior showcase, school leaders brought the senior class to the Bloomington arena for talks on everything from the dangers of excessive gambling and eating disorders to campus safety, money management and studying abroad. Students could attend three of the 10 sessions offered.

There also was a pizza lunch and prizes, a keynote speaker who graduated from NCHS and now works in Hollywood, and the opportunity to take home caps and gowns for upcoming graduation.

This will be first year NCHS seniors will graduate at the coliseum.

Senior Lexi Torres said she liked the session on managing nutrition and healthy lifestyles while away from home. She also liked another session that covered life on campus.

One of the more popular sessions was "Your Roommate Did What?" It featured a panel of local college students who shared real-life advice.

Normal senior Andrew Etheridge, who will head off to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this fall, was among about 70 students who gathered to listen to that panel.

"I liked it. It's better to hear it from college kids themselves," he said afterward.

Illinois Wesleyan University student Jenna Passananti told students they should expect to feel homesick upon arriving at a campus.

And her IWU classmate Bo Osborn talked about how to manage living in a small dorm room with a roommate. He encouraged them to keep open lines of communication with roommates to avoid bigger problems.

Focusing on the time management side of college, IWU student Ashley Reed told students to "get into good study habits right away."

Heartland Community College student Amber May added: "And don't think you can blow off studying for tests. It won't work."

Illinois State University student Marcus King warned students to be careful with their budgeting, recalling a story of how one semester he ran out of money on his meal card plan by not paying attention.

Carissa Chapman and Natalie Straight, also both heading to college next fall, gave the senior showcase mixed reviews.

Like most other students attending, they felt the day full of activities was intended solely to keep seniors from skipping school that day, as had happened in the past. They liked the seminars, though.

NCHS teacher Stacy Feek agreed that was a reason, but she and fellow teacher and senior class adviser Megan Freymann wanted to give seniors some useful information about life after high school.

"When I was a freshman at college, I would have liked to have known some of these things," she said.