Virtual College Signing Day: A Recipe for Success

Due to COVID-19 we've all had to get a little more creative with how we will celebrate College Signing Day with our seniors. This year, more than ever, it is vital that we celebrate them in any way we can. Here is my College Signing Day Recipe!

I cannot take all of the credit for this years event--my incredibly resilient seniors have remained connected and engaged in making this event the most rewarding College Signing Day. During a time when most of their traditional senior year celebrations have been cancelled or postponed. It is reassuring to know that we can quickly convert this special event to a virtual format and possibly engage more of an audience than our traditional in-person events.

What we're doing...

My students are preparing a PowerPoint deck with one student per slide. Each slide will share up to 3 activities/sports the student has been involved in and their specific plans for the future. I have seen so many creative ways people are putting slides together on Twitter, take a look at other schools for more layout ideas. One of my students designed this layout.

Once the slides are done we are going to convert them to a video and upload it to YouTube to share with the community. People will also have the opportunity to leave comments and well wishes for our seniors.

At the request of the students, we are also launching a stand-alone Instagram page for our event, similar to the Lancer Seniors example. I had never seen anything like this until my students brought it up this week! I got approval for the stand-alone page and I am looking forward to bringing it to life for them. This stand-alone account will be used strictly for our event, no other posts will be shared on the account. We will introduce the account to the public via our high school account on May 1 so all seniors can be celebrated beginning at the same time.

Next week I will send a letter home in the mail to all senior parents to officially announce the event, they have already received an email requesting information via our short Outlook form and a copy was mailed home. Next week's communication will be a letter with details about the event, like this one from my first event.

The week of May 4 I will mail a flyer from the event home, the timing is unique due to the nature of this years event and the desire to include as many students as possible. Students can submit their information for the event up until 10 pm on April 29.

Please share details about your event in the comments!

Here are a few resources to help you plan your Virtual Event

1. https://www.bettermakeroom.org/
2. ASCA's Celebrate College Signing Day Online
3. Search #SigningDayChat on Twitter for ideas shared on April 21, 2020 from all around the country
4. Host a College Signing Day event webinar hosted by ACAC and Reach Higher

Check out my previous events and posts about College Signing Day

• College Signing Day...Take 1
• Recap of the Evidence Based School Counseling Conference
• Big or Small College Signing Day is for all