Recruiting

• Recruiting students
• Reaching parents or guardians
• Reaching out to the community
• Involving your colleagues
• Selecting students

Recruiting students

Over the years, teachers have developed a number of techniques for promoting Close Up to students, parents or guardians, the faculty and administration, and the community at large. Here are some of those techniques.

• Write your name and contact information, along with the date of your trip, on the Close Up posters, and post where students will be sure to see them – on your door, the cafeteria wall, or some other conspicuous location.

• Plan a Close Up meeting. Invite students who have previously participated in Close Up programs to speak to other students about their experience. Be sure to have photos of previous Close Up trips

• Promote the meeting through student announcements, school newspapers, etc.

• Create a list of students you think would benefit from a Close Up experience and personally invite them to your recruiting meeting.

• Show students a sample program schedule at your meeting. Highlight how students will visit one of the most exciting cities in the world and meet people from all across the country.

• Distribute the Close Up materials that describe the program. These materials are in your Close Up Program Planning Kit.

• Make announcements over the public address system, at student government or honor society meetings, and in history and social studies classes.

• If your school uses a site, such as blackboard or schoolnotes to post homework announcements, post information about your plans to participate in a Close Up program, and link to our website: www.closeup.org.

• Add a link to Close Up on your school’s website to promote your program participation and provide easily accessible information to parents or guardians, donors, the administration, and others.

• Ask students for names of other interested students to invite to future meetings.

 

You will probably want to talk about fundraising for your Close Up trip. Information on fundraising can be found in our publication, More Ways and Means.

For additional recruiting materials, call our Outreach Department at 800-CLOSE UP (256-7387).

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Reaching parents or guardians

•Encourage students to show our brochures to their parents or guardians and to talk with them about their interest in our programs.

• Display Close Up materials on a table at back-to-school night.

• Insert articles in school district newsletters and school publications.

• Organize a potluck dinner for parents or guardians and students.

• Place an “Ask me about Close Up” sign on your desk and display photos of previous Close Up trips in your classroom during open houses.

• Send letters to the parents or guardians.

• Announce your participation at PTA and school board meetings.

• Pass out brochures at athletic events or in booths at other school events.

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Reaching out to the community

• Place articles in local newspapers describing your planned participation in Close Up and follow up with a report on your trip.
• Contact your local television and radio stations. Set up an interview to tell them about your trip and why it’s so important to your students and the community.
• Make presentations to local civic groups and service clubs.

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Involving your colleagues

• Share you plans at faculty meetings.
• Ask Close Up alumni to go with you to the school board to share their experiences.
• Place articles about your participation in Close Up in staff publications.

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Selecting Students

All high school students in good standing at their high school, who are willing to abide by Close Up’s rules, are eligible to enroll in our programs. Close Up is dedicated to making our programs available to any eligible student who wants to participate. Student selection is determined by the school or sponsoring group.

(Spouses of participating adults may enroll in the program. Children of participating adults may enroll in the program if they are eligible to participate.)

When selecting students, you may want to consider some important program features:

• Every student benefits from an experience that encourages responsible citizenship.
• The program’s curriculum addresses the diverse learning needs and interests of students of varied backgrounds and scholastic capabilities. The potential for learning is just as great for students who have low to moderate skills as for those who have superior scholastic abilities.
• Participants should be aware that we house students from different schools together. This mixing of students from varied backgrounds is a highly valued feature of our program.
  

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