Webinar #1: Addressing School Questions and Concerns About the Seminar

Presenter: Jacie Wilcock – CA-Central LSC and former Idaho LSC; 18-year volunteer

Facilitator:Sunshine Navarro Shively – Registration and Outreach Manager at HOBY International

Additional Staff: Erica Maxwell – Registration and Finance Associate at HOBY International

Participants were asked to share the most difficult question they have received regarding HOBY:

  • Victoria “Tori” Landry – MA Director of Recruitment; first time in director role; no example
  • Matt Keating – ILN Co-Leadership Seminar Chair and Director of Recruitment; first time in director role; no example
  • Kate Gilbert – ILN Co-Leadership Seminar Chair
  • Can my child go back and forth from the seminar (not stay overnight)?
  • Kate was able to speak with the parent, explain the impact and benefits of the program, and put her mind at ease. Parent reached out to mention the wonderful experience her child had.

Everyone who signed up indicated that they were Skilled, Intermediate, or Seasoned regarding their HOBY experience. Thus, we expect a robust discussion and lots of sharing best practices!

All the questions and concerns mentioned in the pre-call sign-up were compiled into seven distinct questions. This allows us to address all the questions and combine those that are similar or would require the same approach.

  1. How can we convince schools that HOBY is a worthwhile investment, especially if they’ve never participated before?
  • Get students, parents, or counselors on the phone
  • This is the best way to convey the impact of HOBY and how the program would benefit each of them
  • Students = leadership skills, confidence, fun, make new friends
  • Parents = motivated child, higher aspirations
  • Counselors = students will return to their school and community ready to use the skills they developed at HOBY; they will see the impact of the program first-hand
  • If you live close by, meet counselors in person
  • Email is not sufficient in addressing all their questions and concerns
  • Outreach to and meetings with school contactsmust be initiated by HOBY volunteers; they won’t reach out to you
  • Have alumni reach out to their 10th grade counselor or other students on campus
  • MA has a strong alumni association counsel for this purpose
  • Make it as easy as possible for counselors to register students
  • Have school ID and password ready
  • Offer to register students for them
  • Challenge alumni to recruit new students– and students don’t need to be from their own school
  1. How can we get reluctant schools to spread information to students and split the cost if they’re unable to cover the full cost?
  • Mention HOBY offers scholarships and find local sponsors
  • Make it as easy as possible for schools to register
  • Always have the school ID and password ready for them
  • Give the idea of selecting the class president (or other students) if counselors don’t know who to nominate
  • Offer to follow up with interested students
  • Offer to have interested students referred to you directly
  • Have Alum speak to the sophomore class

Question asked: What if a student wants to register and didn’t hear about HOBY through their school?

  • Have the student speak to their counselor about their interest
  • Have counselors directed to you for more questions
  • Help counselors register students online with their school ID and password
  • Direct counselors to HOBY.org to learn more
  • If the counselor still won’t register,you can register the student yourself
  • Have the student complete a registration worksheet
  • Find the school ID and password in HOBY Online and register them
  • School counselor listed on the registration worksheet will receive email confirmation of the student’s registration
  • Moving forward, that counselor will be the HOBY contact and know that students are interested in participating
  1. How can we leverage CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) for recruitment?
  • In the interest of time, this question was skipped
  • Sunshine referred participants to the CRAPowerPoint presentationfrom TI
  • People can reach out to Cheryl Brenn and Kevin Grace(the presenters) directly with any questions
  • Final note: You cannot leverage CRA for recruitment until you have already received the funds
  • The funds can only be used for scholarships, not really direct recruitment
  1. How can sites supplement info already sent by HOBY Int’l? When should sites first reach out to school directly and how?
  • It’s best to have co-directors of recruitment to split the load
  • Refer to the HOBY Key Dates Calendar to track communications so you don’t repeat the same information
  • All HOBY communications sent can be viewed in HOBY Online
  • Follow up about a week after International’s communication
  • Send a personal email, introducing yourself and your volunteer team, and provide the local contact information with your hours of availability
  • Schools feel more comfortable having a local contact
  • Local contacts are best at answering site-specific questions that International can’t address
  • Experiment with different types of messaging
  • Some sites send the end of the seminar slide show to give counselors a view/ideaof what happens at HOBY
  • Handwritten thank you notes from the students to the counselors with a little quote that describes how HOBY is a worthwhile cause
  1. How can sites create effective email campaigns to reach busy counselors?
  • Same as above, plus:
  • Keep it brief – makelanguage clear and concise!
  • People decide in split seconds which emails they read
  • Mention the most important takeaways in the first two sentences
  • Emails with lots of verbiage will likely go straight to trash
  • If possible, use images to capture your message and use hyperlinks to direct them to more information
  • Send quotes from past students
  1. How can we get up-to-date contact lists for counselors? And who should we approach if the main contact won’t be available until it’s too late to register?
  • Check out school district websites
  • Schools have become better about having high quality websites with all their information
  • Recruit J-staff to do all the legwork
  • Call schoolsto get updated contact info (e.g. counselor’s name, email, school address, etc.)
  • Train them well and early on
  • Allows DRs to reach school contacts directlyafter Junior Staff have done the first round of obtaining the correct contacts
  • What if the regular HOBY contact is on maternity leave? Or on hiatus?
  • Ask to speak to another counselor who has been at the school for several years
  • Speak with the junior counselor and mention the HOBY student from the previous year
  • If junior counselor has a good relationship with the HOBY alumni, that might help seal the deal
  • Find and use the school’s HOBY history from HOBY Online
  • “XYZ high school has registered a student for HOBY for # years now. Who should I speak to since ABC counselor is on leave?”
  • Keep it simple
  1. How can sites address scholarship requests that are dependent of future fundraising success?
  • Get students registered regardless of current funding!
  • If grant or funding comes in,great!
  • If funding doesn’t come through or doesn’t seem like it will come through, give the schools/students as much heads up as possible
  • Provide studentswith fundraising ideas and offer assistance
  • Students can pay at registration/check in and oftentimes, if the student is still unpaid, parents will step up and pay the reg fee
  • Have students ask local businesses for support
  • Sponsorships are tax deductible!
  • An investment in a student is an investment in the community!
  • Have students ask their parents’ local contacts (or businesses they patronize often) for support

Thoughts or Best Practices:

  • Recruitment goals have been raised: how do we meet those goals and still stay within our capacity?
  • Determine how much volunteer staff you’ll need for your number of students and make sure you have the capacity
  • Expect No-Shows
  • Look at past registration trends to anticipate highs and lows during recruitment season
  • Stay on track
  • Don’t panic! Find the support you need
  • Don’t let yourself get far behind, ask for help: HOBY HQ, LSC, DNPs.
  • Always feel free to contact HOBY for help!

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