The details
NextGrad provides a network of digital kiosks that are placed inside high schools to provide information about higher education opportunities to students. Director of Counseling Kristen Elam said that the NextGrad kiosks would be placed in high-traffic areas inside the schools and will present rotating higher education advertisements every 15 seconds to introduce students to new schools, programs and opportunities.
Elam said the ads typically feature a QR code that students can access to provide more information about that specific institution. She added that each campus is allotted two slides to highlight counseling, and college, career and military readiness activities that are happening on campus.
Elam said that 166 colleges and universities are currently subscribed to the NextGrad service, which allows the service to be free to schools. District officials have the ability to filter ads for various colleges and universities based upon factors like geography. NextGrad currently only highlights two- and four-year colleges and universities, but Elam said that if district officials desired to have local trade schools highlighted as well, that could be a possibility.
As part of the partnership, each of the district’s high schools will receive a $500 grant annually to be used for either a scholarship or toward a college, career and military readiness event.
Quote of note
“The intended outcome of these kiosks is to introduce students to colleges and universities that they may not have known about,” Elam said. “The information provided prompts conversations for students to have with their campus counselors, so when admissions officers are on campus, students are already prepared for conversations with those individuals to further their knowledge about that institution.”
