Promoting a College Going Culture in Your School

Early College Awareness is important.  One of our main focuses these days as educators is making sure every student is career and college ready.  There are thousands of colleges in the United States, and I bet many students would find it hard to name more than 25.  Knowledge is power, and I want to make sure that in our school our kids know what it takes to get in, what options are out there, what careers are out there, and how they can find the answers. 

As a result, the COLLEGE SPOTLIGHT was born.  In September I called all my college contacts that I had (for the past 14 years I worked in a high school and spent most of my time helping students with college applications) and asked for some freebies to promote my "All Students Career and College Ready" Project.  I was able to get T-shirts, water bottles, backpacks, pens, folders, and some other really cool stuff.  Open to 7th and 8th graders, I ask them to fill out a Fact Finding Sheet about a college that is being spotlighted.  This month's college is Johns Hopkins University, and we have already done SUNY Geneseo and Claremont McKenna colleges.  For each sheet that is turned in, students get a fun size candy and then are entered into a drawing for the grand prize from my freebie stash.  The response has been both positive and overwhelming. 

Here is a picture of my bulletin board that spotlights the colleges and the fact finding form the kids need to complete.

How do you create a College Going Culture in your school?  Let me know!