Oregon Goes to College

Here's an excellent reminder that comes in the form of a tip from David Douglas High School (Portland):

If you've got an existing and upcoming activity in which all of your seniors will participate, use it to promote your CAW event. This year, DDHS is holding their schoolwide PSAT a couple of weeks before CAW. While the 9th-11th graders are in testing, the seniors will be gathered for an event when other senior-only activities (i.e. Josten's will be there) are taking place. They'll be talking up CAW and making sure students know what they need to do to prepare.

As you know, Oregon College Application Week is part of the American College Application Campaign, an initiative that has grown so dramatically all 50 states are participating this year! The national network of state coordinators is a collaborative group, and we all keep an eye on the innovative and fun ideas that are happening around the country so we can share them with you. Tennessee High School in Bristol, TN, is in the midst of their CAW event (they do theirs quite a bit earlier than we do!), and I'm excited about a few of their ideas. Check these out!

College Application Week is a fantastic time to celebrate your students' success. Two ideas of ways to do this come from schools in Lincoln County -

Straight from Lincoln City's Taft 7-12 comes the idea to build a spirit week around your CAW event. Possible costume themes include

• Profession Day
• College Spirit day
• College Mascot Day

Bonus! Student leaders can plan this event for you.

Double bonus! It's not just for seniors, so this is a GREAT way to build excitement and awareness among your younger students.

We just spotted this message on Camas Valley's Facebook page:

We think having parents volunteer is a great idea! In fact, we know sites have encouraged parents to participate since our pilot year in 2012. This year, Lincoln High School in Portland offered another way to get parents involved: ask one or two to be co-coordinators for your event!

Please share your ideas for planning & implementing CAW. We'll post your tips & tricks on the blog. You can find all the shared ideas by clickling on the green "Ideas that Work" icon to the right.

Here's a tip from Hillsboro High School for getting your colleagues engaged and helping to build excitement for your event:

Another great idea from Benson High School in Portland:

They'll be promoting their CAW event during their Back to School Night next week. Ensuring that parents know you're participating in this statewide event is critical to your success - and the earlier, the better! In addition to sharing the information at any parent ngiht events, consider also sending a Student and Family Letter home. Remember to encourage parents to volunteer at your event.

Last year, Newport High School used the Donation Request Letter template to ask their area businesses to support their CAW event. They had no idea they'd be overwhelmed with positive responses. So what do you do when you have more prizes than you know what to do with? Make baskets! Gather several smaller prizes together to create one (or more) super enticing raffle prize. Check these out:

Great idea from Benson HS in Portland!

They'll be hosting their event through their CTE classes, and they're thinking about throwing a celebratory party for the class that has the highest attendance during their scheduled CAW event. We suggested using the Donation Request Letter template to ask local businesses to provide treats for the bash.