It takes commitment and ingenuity to run successful campaigns to get your friends and classmates to make an education plan for life after high school. PeerForward’s 100 teams of Peer Leaders have shown both throughout the school year. Here are some of our favorite campaign tactics:
- Peer Leaders at Osborn Evergreen Academy of Design & Alternative Energy in Detroit negotiated with a local utility company to have credits applied to the bills of every family in high school who completed their FAFSA forms.
- A Peer Leader team at Fairmont Heights High School in Prince George’s County, Md. hosted a “lock-in” where their fellow seniors could finish college applications and work on their financial aid forms. The event’s professionally designed invitation promised food, drinks, and – mysteriously – “more” under the hashtag #All Apps Matter.
- Recognizing that parents could not attend college information nights at the high school if they lacked childcare for younger siblings, a Peer Leader team at Lake Wales High School in Florida provided babysitting services for families attending the school’s financial aid awareness night.
- In Lincoln County, W. Va., a Peer Leader made an awesome video to air over the school network promoting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to their peers:
- After analyzing the U.S. Department of Education’s FAFSA completion data for their high school and realizing their completion rates were lagging, a Los Angeles-based Peer Leader team met with their principal to plan for a more effective school-wide push to increase the number of students completing the FAFSA. The Peer Leaders “owned” the data, took responsibility for the results of the whole school, solicited input from leadership, and went back to the drawing board. That’s what student activation looks like!
