To encourage students to think about life after high school, Oswego High School teachers are beginning to post quotes made out of college logos and letters on classroom doors as a project coordinated by AVID, a college readiness program.
AVID Coordinator Matt Borrowman has two goals for the program this year. AVID wants to “increase college culture around the school” and “increase the visibility of a college-going atmosphere.”
Mr. Borrowman notes that it is important to consider all post-secondary options, not just four-year colleges and universities. Enlistment and trade schools are valid options as well. Instead of just thinking of prestigious schools like University of Illinois, “it would be great to have a diverse group of colleges,” Mr. Borrowman said.
“If you have a quote you like or use in your classroom, then you will recreate your quote using College Letters on the outside of your classroom door,” he outlined in an email recently sent out to teachers.
Mr. Borrowman also hopes to set up college-themed murals throughout the school. AVID wants to find four or five locations to set up a “gigantic college collage” filled with “pennants, information, posters, things like that that just draw your attention,” Mr. Borrowman said. One of these will be dedicated to the military, another to trade schools, and so on.
Mr. Borrowman hopes that many students and teachers will participate in the initiative, and cites some examples as to how it is already working. He says it is going to “roll…out into freshman seminar” and that he is going to have some of his own students help design his own quote. He hopes to “have things that involve college, and personify college, and get kids thinking about college all over the building.”
His hopes are becoming a reality, as teachers show an outpouring of pride for their universities. When Mr. Borrowman sent out the email describing this project, he also included a powerpoint with about three college logos for each letter. He has “already heard back from teachers because their college wasn’t on there…so they’re welcome to use any college they want.”
If you want to follow the progress of this project, go follow @OHSpanthersAVID on Twitter.
