FALL RIVER - Friday, May 22, will be the seventh annual One SouthCoast Chamber of Commerce College Day, to promote the idea that college can be in every child’s future.
The idea for this initiative started at a parent forum held by the Chamber in November 2013. Parents from many local schools, including Parochial and Charter, attended the 2013 forum to discuss education in the city. When asked what their aspirations were for their children, many responded that they wanted their children to go to college. As we continued these meetings, a small group of parents came up with the idea of having a citywide College Day where each school would represent a college for the day and could do whatever activities they wanted for that college. Students draw college mascots and learn fight songs at the elementary level, students do research at the middle school level and students wear college shirts at the high school level.
This initiative has grown over the years to include Westport, Somerset, Swansea, Diocesan schools, and for the first time this year New Bedford Public Schools. Over the years, local K-12 schools have taken the initial concept of College Day and come up with their own innovate and creative programs and activities to celebrate College Day,and they have been very successful at scaffolding the message for different age groups and in different classes. Increasingly educators and administrators have brought in community and business leaders to help share the message about the importance of continuing education with their students.
This year, as area school districts have moved to remote learning and high school administrations have tried to figure ways to celebrate the accomplishments of their seniors during the pandemic shutdown, the Chamber’s Education Committee debated whether the annual celebration of highlighting the importance of educational attainment would have to be tabled for the year. Wondering how best to approach this year’s event, College Day Chairperson Melissa Panchley reached out area school officials who expressed a desire to continue with College Day in a virtual format this year.
Drawing inspiration from local educators and their desire to keep the message going, the One SouthCoast Chamber Education Committee and Staff set up a #SoCoCollegeDay2020 Facebook page to share resources and ideas for teachers who want to incorporate the College Day message in their online learning lessons this Friday. Bristol Community College President Laura Douglas, UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Robert Johnson, Bridgewater State University President Fred Clark, and Mass Maritime President Francis McDonald will all be taping messages for local students from elementary schools to high schools.
Durfee High School and Somerset Berkley Regional High School will be sharing video testimonials from seniors on social media. They will also virtually connect high school students to younger students through celebrations at the middle and elementary schools that focus on college. Via video recent graduates from those schools, who have had to transition to online college courses during the past semester, will offer some advice and encouragement to graduating seniors who may have to take online courses next year. And, during the final day of Virtual Spirit Week at Joseph Case High School, seniors will be sharing photos via social media of where their next intended adventure will be, while teachers share their educational pursuits that led them to the classroom.
At Talbot Middle School, students will be participating in virtual college tours and staff will sport college gear when meeting with students in their classes. At Global Learning Charter School in New Bedford, senior celebration tiles will be shared via social media and teachers at the Stone School in Fall River are set to share videos about their college experiences with students. And at the elementary school level, Tansey School is planning a College Day Wave-By event in front of the school on Friday afternoon. Teachers will decorate their cars in college theme with pro-college messaging. Families are invited to "wave by" in their vehicles to see their teachers.
Local business and community leaders, such as Keith Hovan, of SouthCoast Hospitals Group; Marquis Taylor, of Coaching for Change; Rayana Grace, of the Community Foundation; and Charlie Merrow, of Merrow Manufacturing, are also reaching out to students with their own stories and words of inspiration in videos that will be posted on the #SoCoCollegeDay2020 website and shared on social media. To expand the reach of this regional effort, teachers, parents, students and community members are all asked to share their College Day messages, activities and experiences using the #SoCoCollegeDay2020.
Panchley is excited to see College Day go on this year with a new virtual spin.
“This initiative really embodies what the Chamber of Commerce’s Education Committee is all about. We want all our area students to aspire to go to college and know that we support them in that goal. We want college to be a top of mind topic of discussion in school and at home,” explained Panchley. “We ask everyone to join the conversation on May 22 by visiting the SoCoCollegeDay2020 website and let every student in the SouthCoast know that the entire community believes in them and all that they can accomplish. Let’s embrace the possibilities for our children on College Day, and every day.”
For more information on SoCo College Day 2020, contact Panchley at 508-558-5465 or Brianna Alves at balves@onesouthcoast.com.