Ruth,
Could you elaborate on that? What involvement are you intending? What other opportunities might you take advantage of?
June Gudeman
more community outreach, such as chamber events
we will become more involved with the chamber
Chris,
Very good thoughts! Have you thought about using the Alumni Success Stories you're gathering via Facebook and getting them out into the community via newsletters, posters, booklets, etc.?
June Gudeman
Our industry is still one that is very heavily based on close-knit, face to face relationships. As such, I see the largest public relations opportunities from our alumni association coming in the form of industry mixers that put our graduates in direct contact with people who are higher up in the industry, thereby advancing their knowledge and opportunities for employment. As our graduates continue to gain employment and accolades within our industry, the schools profile rises along with it, making it a win-win for everyone.
Daniela,
I like your idea of using a career fair to match students with your employers in the community.
Using your graduates to actually put faces to your institution is really important. We must constantly be thinking about how we can maximize our contact in the community via happy and successful alumni.
June
This school is fortunate to have great reviews from grads, the job placement is very high and our completion ratio is really great.
There are many different areas we can work in to increase the interaction between the community and Alumni Association. One great way is for them to join us at a career fair. This would give insight of their transition to the school and their experiences during and after their completion.
Also social networks are great it the current world. YOu can't go wrong.
Hi Sharon,
Using your graduates to actually put faces to your institution is really important. We must constantly be thinking about how we can maximize our contact in the community via happy and successful alumni.
June
I feel that having an Alumni Associaiton will be a great asset to our school. It wil open more public relations with employers, and different facilities in our counties. Right now our enrollments are mainly due to word of mouth referrals and we are more then 60% enrolled because of this. So I know that this type of associaiton can only benefit us.
Hello Jeff,
I like your thinking - putting actually faces to your institution is really important. We must constantly be thinking about how we can maximize our contact in the community via happy and successful alumni.
June
Getting our students out there is of primary importance. Field trips to local employers are one of my favorite elements. This takes them out of the classroom and shows them the real world. It also helps us build relationships with those employers and put faces to the school logo. It's much nicer for an employer to have a hiring need and think of my name and my face as opposed to my school's logo.
I also really like the idea of potentially having a celebrity as an honorary alum. This could create a great deal of attention in many circles.
Casey,
I really believe one of the best ways to use your graduates to get recognition for your school is to share their success stories. Everyone loves a good story and stories can send a VERY powerful message about your school!
June
We would really like to see more recognition for our school. We are a fairly new school and are looking to be the leading school in the area. Being a smaller school has its benefits, however, we are rapidly growing and need to set in place the Alumni Association while we're still small to pave the way for how it will work. We would like to think that the Alumni Association will set us apart from the other schools, because we would like to really focus on our graduates. They are the reason why we are obtaining so many referrals. It would be great if they could get some recognition.
Amanda,
Since you already are making these connections, possibly you can set up your alumni group or even your alumni website in a way that compliments this function?
June
Luckily, most of our students want to educate the public already since there is a lot of misinformation about our industry. As we are one of the few schools who educate students in this industry, we do receive quite a few requests by reporters, magazines and politicians for our opinion. So far, most of the students are very willing to talk with them since it does impact their future. For the requests we receive at school we do try to include the students who wish to participate and connect the reporters with willing students.
Amanda,
The question for you is - how can you encourage, motivate, and assist your graduates in these endeavors?
June
I would really like for our graduates to go out and make an effort to educate the public. We recently had a graduate student do a special for a local news station and I would like to see more education from our students to the general public. I know that it is time consuming but it would be great for our graduates to contribute to magazines and trade journals.
Randy,
Our graduates are living breathing advertisements for our schools and our industry. It sounds like you have some good ideas on how you'd like to take full advantage of that.
I have found that gathering alumni success stories via our website and finding creative ways to share those stories both inside and outside of our institution has been a very valuable project. "Stories" are incredibly powerful!
Good luck - I'd love to see your website and hear more about your alumni association once you get it up and running!
June
I see our Alumni Association as a vehicle for connecting our students in educating the public about our industry. Currently, there are several laws that are in the process of legislation and could impact our future. I would like to see the Alumni Association as a way of organizing our graduates to better inform the public that might not understand the intricacies of what we do at our school. I would like to see more input in television and other medias of what we do and how we do it.
Gerry,
Remember there are many worthy causes and opportunities in your own community for both your current students and grads to become involved in. Often it just takes one passionate alumni and/or student to head up a team of volunteers that represent your college in a positive way.
June
