At a Glance
Through a series of outreach activities in the spring, the admissions coordinator at Erie County Technical School (ECTS) welcomes rising ninth graders who will be attending ECTS in the fall.
Description
Lisa Sorensen, the ECTS admissions counselor, makes a concerted effort to meet with and welcome incoming ninth graders to help smooth their transition from middle school to the CTC. In the spring, she goes out to each sending school to greet all the students admitted to ECTS for the next school year. She presents students with an ECTS gym bag and a flyer of frequently asked questions, and goes over the questions with them. In addition, Ms. Sorensen, the sending school principal, and the students take a group photo which is enlarged and sent back to the sending school to display. ECTS also posts the photo on social media. Because of these outreach efforts, incoming students feel welcome, valued and part of a positive ECTS culture.
For CTCs that want to expand their new student outreach, Ms. Sorensen suggests they establish strong working relationships with their sending schools. Often, the CTC faculty will need to take the initiative to coordinate with the sending schools.
Impact
Although outreach efforts can be time consuming, ECTS finds they pay important dividends related to engaging new students. From the earlies stages of their affiliation with ECTS, students feel welcome and confident in their decision to attend the CTC.
Contact
Erie County Technical School
https://www.ects.org/
Lisa Sorensen, Admissions Coordinator
LSorensen@ECTS.org