A Creative Recruitment Event to Engage High School Students

Thursday, September 19, 2019

"A Day of Firsts"

On Thursday, September 19th a bus full of high school students from the Polytechnic High School in Indianapolis was welcomed to Purdue University by faculty and Purdue students. The Krannert Communication Center was able to interact with the high school students for an hour, so we knew we had to make our hour count. Months beforehand, we had numerous meetings on how we could show these students the rigorous but fulfilling curriculum and that Krannert has to offer as well as the hard-working and inspiring Purdue students that bring it to life. Ultimately, we decided to use the hour by introducing the high school students to a feature of Krannert that is well known inside and outside of class - the case competition.

The high school students were split into five different groups, each with a Purdue student mentor who first shared their favorite Purdue experiences and some of the opportunities Krannert had provided them with. Then, the cases began. Each group had a different, hypothetical fellow Polytechnic high school student who was interested in Krannert, but unsure of what academic path was best for them. Based on the hypothetical student's interests, past experiences and academic interests the students had to recommend a major, minor/concentration and Purdue experience that would best be suited for the hypothetical individual. An example of this is a student who wanted a mix of engineering and business classes, took computer sciences classes in high school and wanted to learn about different cultures. This would, potentially lead the Polytechnic students to make the recommendation of an Industrial Management major with a required Computer Science concentration and potentially study abroad at some point during their time at Purdue.

With the help of their Purdue student mentor, each group was able to brainstorm their ideas and then present their findings to our faculty as well as their fellow students. This led them to not only be able to learn about the resources and academic options Krannert provides but also hear from our own students about what those majors or experiences mean to them.

This was definitely an event full of firsts, for everyone involved. For some of the Polytechnic students, it was their first-time visiting Purdue and first time working on a case competition. On our end, this was our first time hosting a high-school recruitment event and writing a case geared towards a younger audience. The experience did not come without its own set of hiccups, but hopefully this will pave the way for much more communication between prospective high school students and the Krannert Communication Center. We can't wait to see what the future holds!

Thank you! Finally, this story would be incomplete without thanking all of the students who made this event possible: Yash Asher, Matt Thomas, Bernardo Perez, Alekhya Sureppedi, Jordan Lott, Ben Wagrez and Manav Nahar.