Author Archives: Alumni Channel

White paper on community/school partnerships: Unlocking the Full Spectrum of Community Support

A new white paper titled “Unlocking the Full Spectrum of Community Support” has been published by DeHavilland Associates. This paper was written as a briefing for school and district education leaders, but should be of interest to anyone involved in building community/school partnerships. It covers:

  • The key trends that are changing the landscape of K-12 education for the foreseeable future
  • The ways in which different community partners can contribute to schools and districts
  • Thoughts on how to build community support

You can access this paper, along with other DeHavilland Associates papers, surveys and guides, at:

http://www.DeHavillandAssociates.com/resources.html

Cost-effective Yearbook Digitization

Question: We are thinking of putting our yearbooks on-line. How can it be done economically?

The following tip came from Shad Burner, Director of Alumni Services for Southeast Missouri State University:

After exploring several options, we decided that the most practical method was to simply use a digital camera. The question then became how do we take a consistent photograph. There are “picture stands” for such a thing, but we didn’t want to spend money on that, so for about $20 at a local hardware store and a little ingenuity, we made our own. We used a piece of plywood, some threaded metal pipe, pvc, a screw for the camera and a black sheet. There is a picture attached to show how it looks completed. Our digital camera screwed onto the end of the pvc pipe. We then purchased a couple lamps with bendable necks to create the correct lighting to show the image. We had to play with the lights quite a bit to prevent a glare, but we mostly took care of that.

Continue reading →

Let them know what you need

Did you ever create a “wish list” around the holidays?  Schools can have wishlists too, and not just at special times.  Christian Heritage Academy of Oklahoma has taken a page of their school web site and posted “CHA’s Wish List” which gives friends and donors an alternate way to invest in the school’s success.

Sites such as iLoveSchools.com, classwish.org and even Adopt-A-Classroom, allow alumni/development directors, principals, and even individual teachers to create their own wish lists for parents, alumni and others to see. The community can see exactly what is needed and contribute online.

Catholic-School Comeback?

Patrick J. McCloskey
Catholic-School Comeback?
Inner-city kids would be the big winners.
6 April 2009

Since Catholic education in America peaked in 1965, half of the nation’s Catholic schools have shut their doors, with an average of 250 closing per year. Many of these schools have been in inner cities, making the closings a particularly tragic development for disadvantaged students, who’ve benefited tremendously from the orderly environment and first-rate instruction that these institutions provide and who now have no educational alternative but failing public schools. Continue reading →

Twitter and Alumni Relations

AlumniFutures, a blog by Andy Shaindlin on Ideas, Trends and New Directions in Alumni Relations and Higher Education, has two resources worth pointing out about Twitter.

Don’t know what Twitter is?  Haven’t used it?  No problem — the resources below give a crash course in what Twitter does and how it’s used.

Is Twitter a Tool for Alumni Relations?
and
White Paper: Activating Alumni Networks with Twitter

Prep Sportswear Announces Partnership with Alumni Channel

Prep Sportswear’s Partnership with Alumni Channel Targets Core Market of Nostalgic High
School Alumni

SEATTLE, WA, May 1, 2009 – Prep Sportswear, the largest school and team sports marketplace for high school apparel and merchandise, announced an alliance with Alumni Channel. Prep Sportswear will provide print-on demand high school gear for their hosted online communities. Alumni Channels clients consist of small colleges, high schools and special interest membership groups throughout North America seeking an official alumni web site.

Alumni Channel was founded in 1998, with a platform that contained a simple guestbook and links to photos. Today, they’ve grown to hosting and creating dynamic alumni communities and building better alumni relations programs.
Prep Sportswear offers the ability to customize t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, caps and hundreds of other sportswear and apparel items with an individual’s sport, activity, class year, number, or name. While maintaining a focus on schools and teams, Prep Sportswear is rapidly growing into the collegiate, corporate, and recreational sports markets.
Kelly Holmes, Business Development Manager of Prep Sportswear, said, “Alumni Channel is such a great fit for us as a partner. The company’s database of registered alumni and group members allow us to directly target one of our core markets with product images that are completely customized to what that user is looking for.”

About Prep Sportswear
Prep Sportswear is the leader in the school and team sports marketplace for customized school apparel and merchandise. We’ve supported more than 4.3 million teams and 1 million custom web stores, encouraging participants, coaches, students, parents, alumni, and fans to create, design, and buy personalized products. Prep Sportswear offers more than 1,200 high-quality items from a variety of premium brands, including Nike, Adidas,
Champion, OGIO, and American Apparel.

The company helps schools, teams, booster clubs, and community service organizations improve fundraising capabilities, increase revenues, and reduce the cost and complexity of managing and marketing apparel and uniform purchasing.   Prep Sportswear is privately funded and located in Seattle, WA.

Media Contacts:
Leslie LaRue
Prep Sportswear
206.876.2800 x127
llarue@prepsportswear.com