Its Never Too Early for T.O.U.R.S.

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Its Never Too Early for T.O.U.R.S.

• Translating Opportunity to Uplift Rising Stars

Bryan Spencer Rodrigo Gutierrez Recruitment
Early Outreach Officers San Diego State University
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Topics of Discussion

• Current Issues in K-12
• Purpose of T.O.U.R.S.
• Building an Early Outreach Program
• EOP Volunteer Program
• Questions and Discussion

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Current Issues

• According to the Campaign for High School Equity
  and its High School Policy Reform A Plan for
  Success (2008)
• 10 of Californias high schools are drop-out
  factories educating 17.2 of the students
• California graduation rate for 2006-07 was 67.7
• 50 of CA 8th graders read at the below basic
  level
• Drop-out rate for California is 22.5, based on
  new tracking system implemented
• On-Time Completion Rates of HS
• African-American 55.3
• Latino/a 57.8
• Native American 50.6
• In CA, SE Asians 50 did not graduate
• Only 35 of California graduates left high school
  having completed all the courses required for
  entrance to the UC and CSU systems
• 10 of 8th grade graduate do not enroll in 9th
  grade

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Solution Purpose of T.O.U.R.S.

• Inspire students to believe in the reality of
  attending an institution of higher learning
• Illustrate the SDSU college student experience
  through facts and personal experience
• Encourage students to do further research into
  SDSU and other universities and take
  responsibility for their UC/CSU Preparation
• Provide positive role-models for middle school
  students

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Building an Early Outreach Program
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Elements of T.O.U.R.S.

• Establish Goals, Resources, and Demand
• Assess Schools in your Area
• Assess Collaboration Partners and Allies
• Design Services to Offer
• Develop Procedures and Protocol
• Evaluations Testimonials

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Building an Early Outreach Program

• Establish Goals, Resources, and Demand
• SDSU did not offer a dedicated program for tours
  or presentations
• Staffing EOP created SSP-1B to design,
  implement, and assess an Early Outreach Program
• Become visible to middle schools, its counselors,
  teachers, and other administrators
• Resources Available
• Promotional Items
• Educational Materials targeted for grades 6-8
• Student Volunteerism

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Building an Early Outreach Program

• Assess the Schools in your Area
• Feeder Analysis
• Top Feeder HS to EOP
• Top Feeder HS to SDSU
• Highest Rates of Free/Reduced Lunches
• Proximity to SDSU Campus
• Suspension Rates

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Building an Early Outreach Program

• Assess Collaboration Partners and Allies
• On Campus
• Gear-UP
• Pre-College Institute
• Compact 4 Success
• Ambassadors Prospective Student Center
• SDSU Student Organizations
• College Access Program _at_ SDSU

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Building an Early Outreach Program

• Off-Campus
• California Student Opportunity and Access Program
  (Cal-SOAP)
• Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID)
• Community Organizations and Churches
• Local Middle Schools

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Building an Early Outreach Program

• Define Services to Offer
• Tours
• Provide a 60-min walking tour highlighting fun
  areas on campus and the college student
  experience
• Presentations Student Panels
• Provide a presentation that is energetic with
  simple language to motivate, inspire, and educate
  middle school students.
• Attention Getter
• Reasons to Attend College
• San Diego State Facts Highlights
• A-G Requirements
• Eliminate the Fear of College Costs Financial
  Aid
• EOP
• Provide diverse and prepared student panels to
  offer a mentor perspective
• Material Requests
• Provide Resource Packets for teachers and
  administrators to aid in their mission to
  establish a college-going culture in their
  classroom
• Attend College Fairs Parent Nights
• Participate in Cal-SOAPs College Making It
  Happen

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Building an Early Outreach Program

• Tours
• Structure High Quality Service
• Campus Sites Visited
• Information Disbursed
• Tour Guide Behavior Dress Code
• Develop goodwill with teacher
• Correspondence
• Request Protocol
• Confirmation/Denial Procedures
• Tour Evaluations (Collection Database Teacher
  Eval)
• Goals and Limitations
• Tour Size
• Student Volunteerism Knowledge of University
• Number of Tours Offered
• Designated Times for Tours

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Building an Early Outreach Program

• Presentations Student Panels
• Structure
• How to Communicate to 6th-8th grade students
  (style, lingo, etc)
• What Relative Topics to Cover
• Templates in Existence (CMIH, Admissions, Fin.
  Aid, etc)
• Survey Teachers and Administrators for expertise
• Correspondence
• Request Protocol
• Confirmation/Denial Procedures
• Evaluations (in progress)
• Goals and Limitations
• Classroom or Projector Availability
• Student Volunteerism
• Access to Middle School Sites

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Building an Early Outreach Program

• Material Request
• Structure
• Gather Materials Relative to Grade Level
• Promotional Items
• Cal-SOAP CMIH Booklets and Handouts
• Admissions FTF, Fin. Aid, Scholarship Handouts
• CSU Office College Posters
• EOP Brochures, Folders, Promotional Items
• Correspondence
• Request Protocol
• Confirmation/Denial Procedures
• Goals and Limitations
• Limited to What Will Fit in a Large Yellow
  Envelope
• Teachers Will Request Everything Anything!
• Financial Restrictions (materials promo items)

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Building an Early Outreach Program

• Develop Procedures and Protocol
• Tours Presentation Requests in 2006
• Letterhead Policy
• Data Collection ? MS Excel
• Confirmations via Email
• Tours Presentation Requests in 2008
• EOP Event Request Forms
• Simple
• Electronic Format (Speeds up process)
• Easy to Collect Data
• Data Collection ? MS Access
• Tour Evaluations
• Easy to Complete
• High Completion Rate
• Collect Valid Data with Proper Scales of Measure

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T.O.U.R.S. Statistics At a Glance
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Tour Evaluations
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Testimonials

• The SDSU fieldtrip is probably one of the best
  field-trips our 6th graders take. The tour
  guides definitely build a relationship with the
  students which completely makes the field-trip
  successful. -6th Grade Teacher
• I have had parents tell me they have never heard
  their children as excited about college as they
  are now -7th 8th Grade Teacher
• We constantly talk about college at school, but
  the students dont really understand the true
  concept of college until they visit a campus
• -6th Grade Teacher
• Many students who once believed college was not
  an attainable goal, have now changed their minds.
  -6th Grade Teacher
• I loved the presentation with the "planting of
  the seed" and the growth into the Giant Sequoia.
  It was a wonderful metaphor for the students.
• -8th Grade AVID Teacher

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High Demand Quality Services

• Based on
• The demand and motivation to avoid denying any
  requests
• Desire to aid in the retention of EOP students
  and provide opportunities for community service
• We devised the

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EOP Volunteer Program!!
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EOP Volunteer Program

• Began in Fall 2006
• Current Structure began Fall 2007
• Key component our Early Outreach efforts and
  T.O.U.R.S.
• Volunteers made up of EOP and Non-EOP students

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EOP Volunteer Program

• History
• Fall of 2006
• Tours were conducted by Staff and whichever
  students happened to be around
• This would create problems obtaining student
  assistance with Tours Events
• Tour groups were limited in size
• Many requests had to be denied because of these
  issues
• Summer of 2007
• Outreach Recruitment added another Staff member
  for Early Outreach efforts
• Current EOP Volunteer Program developed
• Tour Group sizes increased
• Less requests were denied as a result
• Spring 2008
• Outreach Recruitment Coordinator hired to allow
  Early Outreach staff to focus on Tours and Events
  and developing and expanding the EOP Volunteer
  Program

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Goals of the EOP Volunteer Program

• To provide EOP and non-EOP students with an
  opportunity for community service, to educate
  prospective students, and to stay engaged with
  EOP and its staff and services.
• To be flexible with our Outreach efforts in
  events and programs
• Allows Outreach Recruitment Staff to focus on
  other duties (visits, application period, etc.)
• Hosting more and MORE students with campus visits
• Outside of time conflicts, not denying any
  requests for a campus visit.
• Assist with EOP department events
• Get students INVOLVED!!

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EOP Volunteer Program

• Opportunities for Involvement
• Middle School Campus Tours
• Student Panels
• Freshman For a Day (fall semester)
• Middle School Visits (College Access Program)
• EOP Graduation (spring semester)
• EOP Student Advisory Board
• Explore SDSU 2009
• Community Events

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EOP Volunteer Program

• Implementation of a Volunteer Program
• How do we create a program out of nothing? Where
  do we get our students? How do we communicate
  with them? Isnt there something like this
  already on campus?
• Step 1. Knowing your goals and objectives
• Expand tours and event size and number. And keep
  US in the office.
• Step 2. Knowing your potential volunteer pool.
• Year One EOP Students and select Student
  Organizations
• Year Two EOP Students, Students Organizations
  and the general campus population
• Step 3. Love Technology.
• Flyers to Email to Campus-wide Newsletters

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EOP Volunteer Program

• Implementation of a Volunteer Program (part II)
• Step 3. CONSTANT Communication
• Weekly Announcement and Emails, electronic course
  communication (Blackboard)
• Step 4. Know Your Resources
• Do MORE with less

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EOP Volunteer Program

• Challenges and Limitations of a Volunteer Program
• a smart man once said, the answer to all your
  questions is money.
• Challenge 1. Budget
• 0 in our departments General Fund for the
  Volunteer Program
• Challenge 2. Incentives
• See Challenge 1. What will it make it worthwhile
  for students to take time out of their busy day
  and take their ONE free hour to give a tour to
  some kids?
• Challenge 3. Student Availability
• Tours mostly fall between 10am and 2pm Monday
  through Friday. So do student volunteers classes.

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EOP Volunteer Program

• Challenges and Limitations of a Volunteer Program
  (cont.)
• Challenge 4. Volunteer Pool Size
• The more the merrier
• Challenge 5. Campus Visibility
• Look outside of EOP for students and look outside
  email to reach potential Volunteers
• Challenge 6. Show Rate
• Yeah they say they can volunteer, but do they
  show up?
• Challenge 7. Training
• I would give a tour, but I dont know how to
  give one.

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EOP Volunteer Program

• Blackboard Academic Suite aka Blackboard
• Easy and Efficient way to communicate with
  students
• Program is added as another enrolled course
• Free for US!! Paid for by the University
• Stores all your program information and resources
  for you and your volunteers

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EOP Volunteer Program

• Testimonial
• What did you enjoy the most about being an EOP
  Volunteer?
• I enjoyed leading the tours around campus the
  most. I felt good about being able to give
  prospective students a positive experience which
  could result in them joining the SDSU campus.

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EOP Volunteer Program

• Statistics of volunteer participation
• 200 Volunteers since Fall 2007
• Real cost of Volunteers based on 9/hr wage
• 2007/2008 - 2965
• So far 2008/2009 - 1580
• Fall 2008 had 44 unique volunteers.
• 89 current members

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Future Possibilities

• Build a pipeline program that co-exists with our
  High School and Community College Recruitment
  Outreach
• Measure effectiveness of T.O.U.R.S. by evaluating
  Admissions Applicants and Enrollees
• Create a Freshman For a Day program for
  selected middle schools
• Provide a tutoring/mentoring program that
  involves EOP students and middle school students

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Thank YouAny Questions?