Presenter s Karen Dahlstrom, Blackhawk College - Moderator Rachel Gustafson – Assoc. Director of Admissions Augustana College Sterling Kingery – Counselor Rock Island High School Martha Stolze – Director of Admission North Central College Jean Childers – College & Career Center Assistant Naperville Central High School
High schools—are you interested in creating more effective partnerships with the colleges in your neighborhood? Colleges—are you interested in more effectively reaching out to high school students in your own backyard? This type of proximity offers some unique opportunities for forming partnerships with the school next door. Come prepared to hear how two colleges and two high schools have used these relationships to their advantage, and bring some of your own examples as well.
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Transcript
PresentersKaren Dahlstrom, Blackhawk College - Moderator
Rachel Gustafson – Assoc. Director of AdmissionsAugustana College
Sterling Kingery – CounselorRock Island High School
Martha Stolze – Director of Admission North Central College
Jean Childers – College & Career Center AssistantNaperville Central High School
The School Next Door
Naperville
NCC & NCHS close proximityAttractive campus townThriving shops & restaurantsScenic Riverwalk & Parks
Naperville Central High School
& North Central College A mutually effective
partnership
Benefits to Students
•College ready students•Recruitment•Smooth transition to college•Community outreach
Instructional
•Bachelors in education for local teachers•Masters in education program for teachers•Theatrical programs resource for English classes•“Calculus – the Musical” for Math classes
Teacher Preparation
•North Central provides novice teachers•NCHS provides opportunity for student teaching•30 of NCHS teachers North Central College grads•Supervisory teachers receive reduced tuition
Gifted Student Program
Lederman Scholars Program Earn up to two years of college while maintaining enrollment in high school
Athletics
Youth sports camps
High School athletics•Cross-town football •Soccer championship
Creative Arts
Fine Arts PerformancesWorld Class Artist Concerts
District 203 Art ShowYouth Music & Theatre CampsLecture Series
Physics & Math Competitions& summer enrichment programs
Multicultural Arts Show/AVID
Engineering/Pharmacy Camps
The School Next Door, a Quad Cities partnership
Augustana College and Rock Island HS Rachel Gustafson, Associate Director of Admissions,
Augustana College
Sterling Kingery, Guidance Counselor for Rock Island High School
Augustana College Augustana is located in the Quad
Cities, a metropolitan area of 400,000 spanning the Mississippi River
Partner with high schools in Illinois and Iowa Quad Cities
About 10% of our student population is from the “schools next door” (Illinois and Iowa Quad Cities)
Whose job is it to partner locally? Two counselors have the schools
next door as part of their regions, along with an admissions counselor who works specifically on multicultural and community outreach
Recruited Kane and DuPage counties for 16 years
Recruited “schools next door” for 4 years
Rock Island HS
Located in Rock Island, IL School of 1679 students 32% go to 4 year colleges 34% attend 2 year colleges 4 full time counseling staff
Pros and Cons of recruiting in your neighborhood Pros:
Allows a higher level of engagement with students and other influencers
Opportunities for outreach and recruitment are endless Requires creativity in meeting students where they are
and overcoming objections High name recognition Large base of alumni and others connected to campus High percentage of students who have grown up
aspiring to attend Increased willingness of campus partners to
participate in recruitment locally Limited travel
Cons: High percentage of students overlook the
institution Students who have spent limited time on
campus (i.e. football games) think they know the institution
Base their view of the college on rumors, myths, misperceptions or assumptions
Recruitment and outreach could take place 7 days/week, 24 hours/day
Families sometimes expect a greater amount of recognition and service being from “the school next door”
Outreach vs. recruitment
Start early and often Participate in community events
Presence at local festivals and fairs Using student ambassadors wisely in the community
Working with marketing & communications to publicize events that already happen on campus (i.e. science open house, planetarium shows, dinosaur day, etc.)
Our staff has been known to do school visits to elementary and junior high classes to get them excited about college
Outreach
Classroom presentations How to write college application essay –
English classes How to choose a career Foreign study in college - Foreign
language classes The college application process Interviewing skills Careers in art
Academic Partnerships
Augustana Summer Academy HS freshmen-juniors In its 3rd year Courses offered on Gross Anatomy
(cadaver dissection), CSI Forensics, Neuroscience, Pipe Organ, Sports Medicine, Harry Potter
Live on campus in res halls Grant money for local students offered
Academic Partnership
Faculty involvement Accounting faculty speak to all local high
schools’ accounting classes about careers in accounting
HS Anatomy classes invited to a tour of cadaver lab and able to see work in progress
AP English classes invited to the library to do guided research with librarians
Guidance partnership
FA nights for parents and students Bilingual FA night College planning 101 – invite local
guidance counselors to work with visiting alumni students and their families
Taking current local Augie students to high school visits at their home school
Guidance counselor/admissions relationship
Arts Partnership
Offer free tickets to QC high school students for every concert, play, dance show, improv show, etc.
Second Baptist Music Academy – Augustana faculty work with low-income high school students to offer free music lessons and free or discounted use of instruments
Bucktown Center for the Arts – annual photography show which highlights Augustana students’ work includes a high school photo contest which draws dozens of high schoolers to the show.
Athletics partnership
Invite local teams to games and meets, making them a “big deal”. Announcing visiting teams and players at the game and meeting with the coach.
Sports camps Shared use of facilities – local
Catholic HS shares our football facilities every Friday
Recognizing local students Newspaper project
Student ambassadors comb through local papers
Find articles on local high school students making news
Drop them a note congratulating them
Using local resources from the high school side: Group visits to local 4 years and
community college Financial aid night – use ISAC FAFSA workdays at Black Hawk Support local college fairs ELL recruitment (Rocky has over 160
ELL students that speak 19 different languages)
Legacy event partnership with Augustana
Discussion groups
1. What ideas has your school tried in terms of neighborhood partnerships that are unique or seem to have worked well?
2. Have you tried partnering in ways that were not successful and why?
3. Where do you see potential to try something new that hasn’t been tried in your neighborhood? 4. What do you hope to gain from partnership with the school next door?
5. Whose responsibility is it at your school to reach out to the schools next door? Is there just one individual this falls, is it a committee or is it everyone? 6. For the schools you feel you have a good relationship with, what contributed to that? 7. For colleges, do you publicize events differently, or host different events, for local students? 8. For high schools, do you see the local colleges as a resource? How could they be a better resource?