GETTING STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE
Unfortunately, it has been proven unrealistic to simply announce the idea of a college tour to your students and expect to get the participation that you need for your trip to be successful; it rarely works out this way. The following are steps that have been proven successful over the course of our nearly 20 years of experience; we strongly recommend following them to build interest and get students signed up quickly. We will be there to help you, step by step, along the way.
MAKE YOUR BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
Tell your students in each of your classes about the upcoming tour and get them excited about traveling. We can help arrange a presentation that you can use to build the buzz. We will also draft a letter / email template for you to send out to parents to let them know how the trip will benefit their children.
SPREAD THE WORD
Promote the tour throughout your school via posters (that we will create for you), the morning announcements, and the schools newspaper / newsletter. Post a sign-up sheet(we’ll send you this too) outside your room to find out who’s interested.
HOLD YOUR PARENT MEETING
By now, you’ll have set your meeting date and sent the letter to parents inviting them. We’ll help you to prepare by customizing a parent presentation that you will use to conduct your meeting. Encourage parents who attend to spread the word to other parents; the more that go, the more they save.
PARTNER WITH COLLEAGUES
Get your colleagues involved by giving them the opportunity to travel free. There is power in numbers; the more help you get from other teachers, the better chance you’ll have reaching your recruitment goals. Face it, you just may not be the “cool” teacher and if not, find them… find them fast! LOL
GET HELP FROM YOUR STUDENTS
Incentivize a few student leader to help you spread the word. Some students may not listen to you in class, but they listen very well to their friends at lunch. Don’t worry, we’ll help those that help you.
SHAKE THE FENCE
In a final push, contact the parents directly who might be on the fence about going. Let’s find out what more they might need to make them feel more comfortable. Send us the list and we’ll do the work for you by reaching out to them on your behalf.
