Presentation to the Board of

Directors
2010 Class Officers
Chicago Scholars
Reintroducing Ourselves
 Our Mission

The Mission of the Chicago Scholars Class

Officers is to identify the needs of our fellow
peers, provide extraordinary value to our
college education and secure our commitment
to the Chicago Scholars community both as
students and alumni.
 How were last year’s
recommendations addressed?
 Recommendation #1:
Encourage and facilitate a
community among the Chicago
Scholars students.
2010 Battle of the Classes
2010 Day of Service:
Garfield Park Conservatory
 Recommendation #2:
Expand Career Support Programming
• Alex Gagnon became the Career Programming
Associate.
– He built and expanded upon the Career Exploration
series, with several new participants this past
summer.
– Plans to get our peers access to 50 internships in a
wide variety of fields this coming summer.
• YPC is now offering free 1-year memberships to
CS alumni.
 Recommendation #3: Showcase our
students, connect more to our college-going
scholars.

• The Monthly Scholar Spotlight newsletters

were launched.
• A Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube page was
created.
 The 2010 Survey
• Completed in May of • Questions were
2010 directed to students of
• 70 students responded each phase of our
programming (i.e. high
school or college under
and upperclassmen)
• Follow up questions
from last year’s survey.
• Wanted more direct
and constructive
qualitative feedback.
 Follow up Responses
98.5% approval rate of the new Chicago Scholars website.

95% enjoyed the college-bound workshops, citing their most

pressing concerns were addressed and were more confident in
their future.

88% of all respondents wanted to be contacted by us at least

twice a month from us, most preferring email and phone.
 Comments Feedback Summary
• Our peers want some way to actively
contribute to the website. (i.e. blogs, polls or
discussion boards)
• Our peers want a searchable directory to find
one another and alumni whether they are on
the same campus, city or geographical region.
 Comments Feedback (p. 2)
• Our peers would like even more opportunities
to come together in a more informal setting
during breaks home from school.
• A wider variety of internship opportunities are
still a great need among many of our peers
interested in fields such as education,
journalism, health, and the non-profit sector.
Recommendations from the
2010 Class Officers
 Recommendation #1: Develop an
interactive component for the
website.
• A Chicago Scholars blog was launched last
October.
• Blog will feature a new section “ScholarSpeak”
for students to share with the wider CS
community or comment on their peers’ posts.
 Recommendation #2: Create a
student and alumni directory.
• The directory and alumni network will be
essential to the Chicago Scholars mission
• Will only increase in its value as more alumni
reconnect with us and more students are
admitted into our program.
 Recommendation #3: Create more
opportunities for gatherings
• In the process of planning this year’s holiday
party and next summer’s social events.
• An idea currently on the table is a “Welcome
Home” event shortly after students return for
the summer and a send off party when they
return to school.
Thank You All for Listening!