Community College Back to School Countdown

Tips and Resources for your Fall Semester

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and we know many of you are taking advantage of some well-deserved rest and relaxation. Maybe your student traffic has slowed down a bit, and the hallways are a little empty, but before you know it…

…the fall semester will be here!

New student orientation. Free t-shirts and pizza. First year experience courses. Parking passes. Excited students. Registration rushes. Transfer presentations. Student activities fairs. More free pizza.

It’s a lot. Fortunately, we know that you are tackling the planning for these items now to make your fall kickoff as smooth as possible. You’re probably compiling your materials, creating agendas, adding content to your course shells, and thinking about how to not only get students started on the right foot, but also carrying that momentum into the semester. For instance, your students are probably excited on day one, but how do we keep them excited on day 41?

RaiseMe has developed a Back-to-School toolkit of materials (like posters, classroom presentations, and social media posts) that can help take the load off of your fall prep, keep students excited about staying engaged, and keep you up to date on what scholarships your students are earning. Our materials are helpful for many different educator audiences, and we find that RaiseMe can support your work in several of the following ways.

New Student Orientation

Have a component of your program focused on transfer, financial aid, or getting involved on campus? We have slides, handouts, and social media posts that can help you to introduce us.

First Year Experience Courses

Doing transfer exploration activities? Talking about financial planning? We have you covered with classroom presentations, tutorial videos, and course announcements that you can drop right into your online classroom.

Academic Advising

If you’re trying to emphasize that earning good grades has long term benefits, or see which colleges your students are considering transferring to, create an educator account at www.raise.me/educator, and begin to gain insight into your students’ habits.

Student Activities

RaiseMe incentivizes joining clubs, completing volunteer work, and taking on leadership positions. Introducing RaiseMe at your student activities fairs gives them even more reasons to get involved. Include us on your fair invitations, have some flyers on hand, or add us to your website.

Honors Programs

Earning scholarships for As, Bs, PTK membership, and high GPAs keeps all students on track, including high achievers. Teaching an honors course? Announce us to your students to reinforce how being a high achiever pays off (literally) in the long haul.

Join our Community College Kickoff Webinar

Want to learn more about how to kick off your semester with RaiseMe so you can keep students engaged, motivated, and retained? Join our Community College Semester Kickoff webinar August 7th, at 10:00am PT to learn more about strategies our two year partners have implemented to engage students in earning transfer scholarships. Save a seat here, spots are limited!

Fall is right around the corner, and we have you covered. Want to learn more about how RaiseMe partners with community colleges to provide free coaching and support? Contact us at ccinfo@raise.me.

Tara Zirkel

Tara Zirkel, Ed.D, is Senior Manager for Community College Partnerships Manager for RaiseMe. Tara has over a decade of student affairs experience in community college settings, including as the Dean of Distance Education and Education Centers at Westmoreland County Community College and as the Director of Admissions, Interim Dean of Students, Adjunct Faculty, and Interim Associate Academic Dean at the Community College of Allegheny County. She holds a doctorate of education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she researched enrollment habits of community college students.