Area Report for Board of Trustees

Institutional Advancement Division embraces its role to tell the Highline College Story through a variety of medium, including in person/face to face engagement, online/web/social media, print, and mass media to potential and current students, alumni, prospective and current donors, organizations, and community partners. (Core theme 3, objective 1)

Our aim is to recruit more students to Highline College, support students as they persist in their education, celebrate with them as they earn degrees and credentials, engage with them as an active and dynamic alumni community, and share their success stories with the community to build sustainable support, tipped with waves of massive support to accomplish great projects in support of student success and strong community.

IA’s work:

• Recruits students (core theme 2, objective 2)
• Supports students as they persist in their education (core theme 1, objective 1)
• Celebrates with them as they earn degrees and credentials (core theme 1, objective 3)
• Engages with them as alumni (core theme 3, objective 2)
• Shares their stories (Core theme 3, objective 1)
• Builds sustainable support (core them 4, objective 2)

To these ends, examples of our work in September and October are highlighted by:

Media Coverage

Links to the following articles are available in the Highline in the News section.

Coverage where Highline College is primary or significant focus:

• “Swenson joins Highline College Board of Trustees” –– Kent Reporter, Auburn Reporter, 10/10/19
• “LGBTQIA Week at Highline College honors the resistance 50 years later” — Kent Reporter, Auburn Reporter and The Waterland Blog, 09/23/19

Coverage where Highline is a secondary focus or has a significant mention:

• “Nearly 19,000 youth in King County are neither working nor in school. How one Seattle nonprofit is changing that.” –– The Seattle Times, 10/20/19
• “Make a new start in your life with adult education or employment training” –– The B-Town Blog, 10/6/19
• “A Recipe for Success” –– 425 Business, 10/02/19
• “Des Moines Legacy Foundation Arts Gala to benefit Highline College students” –– Federal Way Mirror, 09/26/19

Coverage of Highline current and future students, alumni and employees:

• “It’s time to revitalize the voices of our youth” –– International Examiner, 10/10/19
• “Thomas Jefferson’s Hailey Still recognized as CenturyLink High School Athlete of the Week” –– Federal Way Mirror, 10/10/19
• “A farm. A barn. A sylvan symposium for our times” –– KUOW, 10/03/19

Note: Campus events and athletics also receive coverage, but are usually not included in this recap.

Social media highlights

Facebook: reached 12,000 followers on Oct. 31, 2019
Twitter: September and October generated a combined total of 53,200 Tweet impressions. (Twitter impressions are the number of times a tweet shows up in somebody’s timeline.)

Advertisements

Bus Advertising

We continue to get extra run time on external and inside display ads on King County Metro buses. The campaign was to officially end July 28 but the ads stayed up through September at no additional cost.
Purpose: General awareness, increase admissions.

NCM Theater ads

Our 15 second on-screen, pre-trailer ad continues to run in five area theaters: Auburn 17, Century Federal Way, Kent Station 14, Southcenter 16 and Gateway 8. The campaign runs through July of 2020.
Purpose: General awareness, increase admissions.

NCM Digital component

We also continue to run multiple web display ads to complement the in-theater ads. The ads appear on mobile and desktop devised of those who have visited the above four theaters with their mobile device’s location service turned on. This campaign also runs through July of 2020.
Purpose: General awareness, increase admissions.

Instagram/Facebook Stories

15 second interstitial ad targeting only those using Instagram/Facebook Stories in our surrounding area codes. Campaign started August 20 but ran through September 2.
Purpose: General awareness, increase admissions.

Federal Way Mirror, Kent Reporter, Renton Reporter, Auburn Reporter, Maple Valley Reporter

Half-page ad in annual Fair Days insert, published September 6.
Purpose: General awareness and promotion of our information booth at the fair pavilion.

Federal Way Mirror Website

Digital display ads of various sizes displayed throughout the Federal Way Mirror’s website, September 1-12.
Purpose: General awareness, increase admissions.

Federal Way Mirror, Kent Reporter, Renton Reporter, Auburn Reporter, Maple Valley Reporter

Quarter-page ad in annual Seattle Thunderbird Fan Guide insert, published September 13.
Purpose: General awareness, increase admissions.

La Raza Spanish Language Newspaper

Half-page ad in October 11, quarterly education edition, Progresa.
Purpose: General awareness, increase admissions.

Events

Level 1 engagement: fairs and general info about the college 100-500 people

• Puyallup Fair
• Bethel School district
• Puget Sound Skill Center
• Lakes HS
• Decatur HS
• College Success Center
• Somali community Center
• Pacific Middle School
• Rainier Prep Resource Fair
• Back to School – College and Career Night Franklin Pierce High School
• Todd Beamer Mini College Fair
• Life After High School College Fair
• Foster High School College Fair
• Enumclaw High School College Fair
• 24 Prospective Students for September and 40 for October.

Level 2 engagement (college programs and pathways for targeted students multiple visits with follow up) 10-20 students

• HHS Financial Aid Night
• Tyee HS
• Evergreen HS
• Foster HS
• Somali community Center
• Financial Aid Night At Kent lake HS
• Kent Ridge HS
• Kent Meridian HS – Kent School District’s Beyond High School
• Kent Phoenix Academy
• Puget Sound Skill Center
• Lakes HS
• Decatur HS
• College Success Center
• Choice 180
• Mount Rainier HS

Level 3 engagement (workshops for staff/councilors, community partners)

• College Success Foundation 2 Year College Presentation – World School
• Highline School Councilors
• Somali Community Leaders
• Black and Brown Presentation/Info (Tyee HS, Evergreen HS)

Other News

Alumni

September

• Manned an alumni table at Highline’s block party to engage with current students and future alumni. Three new online sign-ups

October

• Attended the CASE Conference for Community College Advancement
• Attended the We the Future Young Leaders of Social Change Opening Celebration at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center. Alumna Haley Cummins was honored and displayed as one of Washington’s Changemakers
• Collaborated with the Legal Studies department for their first Alumni, Students, and Faculty Reception (10 Legal Studies alumni attended)
• Attended the fall Prof-tech Advisory Committee meeting and connected with alumni
• 4 new online sign-ups

Report submitted by Vice President Josh Gerstman on Nov. 07, 2019.