This content was published: March 12, 2007. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
High schoolers get preview of college
Photos and story by James Hill
Students learn about the campus
In February, the Rock Creek Campus attracted more than 370 high school students to its inaugural Preview Day, a recruitment event that will give the students an opportunity to come to campus to learn what PCC has to offer.
The PCC Preview Days are events hosted by the Rock Creek, Sylvania, and Cascade campuses that provide prospective students the opportunity to visit our campuses and learn more about PCC’s professional-technical and transfer programs. Cascade will host a Preview Day on Friday, April 20, and Sylvania will host its day on Friday, May 11.
The schedule for the Preview Days includes a workshop with the Office for Students with Disabilities, overview of admissions, tours, and a programs and activities fair.
“It is incredibly important for PCC to host Preview Days,” said Cheryl Hefty. “These events open the campuses up to the community and show prospective students all of the great programs and services PCC has to offer. With each event being held on a Friday, local schools are able to bus in students who may not have considered visiting PCC otherwise.”
Last spring, the admissions coordinators saw a rise in the number of requests for campus visits and tours. For the coordinators it seemed appropriate to consolidate those visits and bring students to campus for a single Preview Day.
“This is the first time we’ve done this as a district-wide, organized event,” said Roberto Suarez. “In the past similar events were held for specific groups at specific campuses, but nothing at a district wide level had been attempted. As more and more individual groups were requesting this kind of experience, we decided to make a larger, more formalized event that could accommodate all groups at once.”
The admissions coordinators are encouraging high schools to pre-register students in groups. Students can also register individually, but the goal is to get the majority of students to come with their high schools.
Rock Creek prepared for its event with a grass roots advertising campaign, with emails sent to high counselors and teachers, postcards given to students at a high school visits and college fairs, and information posted on the PCC Web site.
For more information, visit the Preview Day Web site.
Related Pages:
Rock Creek Campus, Cascade Campus, Sylvania Campus
About James Hill
James G. Hill, an award-winning journalist and public relations writer, is the Director of Public Relations at Portland Community College. A graduate of Portland State University, James has worked as a section editor for the Newberg Graphic... more »