A WARM (WIRED) WELCOME Going virtual with Trinity’s office of admission in the pandemic year
2020 was the year full of adapting, revising, and adjusting many things that once seemed so easy and routine. The 2020-2021 school year was no different as the pandemic presented many challenges for schools across the country. For the Trinity admission process, this meant families interested in Trinity would not be able to walk the campus. Staple engagement opportunities like “Titan For a Day” and “Titan Night” would be pushed aside until further notice. “Our biggest challenge came from the safety protocols we had to implement to keep our students safe during the school year,” said Director of Admission Margie Vaughan Snead ’85. “Visitors were not permitted on campus when our students were here. This impacted EVERY area of our process.”
LIGHTS, CAMERA, OPEN HOUSE Well before the fall, the admission and communications departments began brainstorming ways to convert all in-person events to virtual events with a guiding question in mind: How can we give prospective families the feeling of being on campus? “We made sure that each touch point, or virtual event, they were being introduced to different faculty, students, and staff so they had a broad range of experiences to learn about,” said Snead. With Open House as the first big event in the fall, both departments collaborated on a virtual Open House, with videos from seven current program heads and 15 students, each providing their perspective on programs such as the outdoor program, academics, the
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arts, competitive athletics, community engagement and the IB Programme. “Our students really rose to the occasion and adapted quickly to our virtual setting,” said Snead. The virtual Open House event was filmed, edited and produced by Trinity’s in-house staff in less than 30 days and was aired via livestream in four sessions during the fall and winter. In a more traditional year, Trinity’s Open House averages about 175 families (approx. 520 people). 2020’s Virtual House attracted about 180 families and held steady at 70 families when featured at later dates.
