It’s easy to run out of community outreach ideas after decades and decades of recruitment. On-site recruitment events are great, and fun runs and charity events certainly have their place, but after a while, students become numb to it all. Those events become yet another marketing ploy or advertisement students can easily see right through.
Are you having trouble reaching students with your current outreach efforts? Maybe you’re just not seeing the results you want? These new community outreach ideas may be able to help:
Sponsor school events, raffles, dances and festivals.
Make your university a part of this year’s prom or other campus-wide event. Donate items to the next student council raffle or add a homecoming float to the parade. Put your brand where the students are and be a part of the things and events they care about.
Appoint student ambassadors.
Hearing your school is great from a para-professional or counselor may not get through to a student as well as a student one or two years older than them. Appoint student ambassadors to take with you on recruitment trips, and get them to connect with potential students on a level us older folk just can’t.
Host camps and programs.
High schoolers have tons of time off. There’s Christmas break, the Thanksgiving holidays and three whole months at summer. Take advantage of that downtime by offering valuable camps and fun programs to students in your area. Have a state-of-the-art robotics lab on campus? Host a robot-building competition. Have an on-site greenhouse or garden? Create a sustainable farming class for eco-conscious students. Work with your academic leaders and current students to tap into your resources best.
Whatever community outreach ideas you decide to use, be sure to leverage The Scholastic Network to get the word out. Our displays reach more than 200,000 Texas students daily. Contact us today to get started.