I am writing to ask a favor of all parents of grade 12 parents of those in PD7 and invite you to a preliminary meeting Tuesday October 4 at 7pm in room 102.
We are about to engage in three very intense and important weeks and we need your help.
On October 28 we will be visited by 60+ post-secondary schools – the most ever! Programs from 6 countries and 3 continents are coming to see the work of 70 of our grade 12’s. Nothing like this happens anywhere else on the planet as far as we know. This is a truly memorable experience and perhaps the single most significant day of high school for participants.
The representatives from all of the attending schools use this opportunity to scout top picks for the 2016-2017 year. As far as we can figure, ESA students are offered more top scholarship offers than any other group of students on the planet – in large part because of Portfolio Day.
Many of the schools are spending thousands of dollars to fly representatives to Toronto just to meet your kids. The benefit on our end for those applying to these schools is significantly increased scholarship offers and a near perfect acceptance record – almost every one of our kids gets into every program they apply to.
It is vitally important that we make their time with us as enjoyable and rewarding as possible so that they support our kids during the application and scholarship process, and so that they want to come back to ESA next year. The personal relationships made during Portfolio Day are the foundation of vital support when it comes time to decide who gets what scholarship money.
We want to be prepared to prove that we are the top picks on the planet, and help the representatives have a really fantastic day. We can do a better job with your help.
I would like to ask you for three things.
– We are feeding and hydrating and caffeinating 110 representatives and 70 students for ten hours. Donations of special food and drink items would be enormously appreciated by all involved. Anyone who would like to contribute please feel free to drop off whatever you can the afternoon/evening of October 27 or the morning of October 28. We do have several folks with nut allergies so those should be avoided.
– We can really use your help setting up and taking down. This may be one of the largest art shows on the planet – something in the range of 3000 works – that is set up and seen and taken down in two days. We also need a builder at this point able to help us with several fixtures. Most of the install happens after school on October 26, and between noon and 10pm on Thursday October 27th. Take down begins at 9.30pm on Friday October28th and takes 1.5 hours. We endeavour to have every aspect of PD removed by the time we leave ready for the photographer to arrive Monday morning to document all the work.
– Advertising – one of the most exciting moments of Portfolio Day is at 7pm when the public is invited to join us for a look at what we have been up to. We have something in the neighbourhood of 1200 people attend that night. If you could please invite as many interested friends and family members as possible, it would greatly contribute to our experience. Anyone with press or media contacts is invited to make special invitations as we would appreciate the publicity. In the past we have had coverage by CBC news and the Toronto Star, etc. More of the same helps increase our reach for potential future applicants to the program.
Thank you all very much!
Matthew Varey