NACAC - Spring 2020 - 12

CREATING A SIG
CREATING A NEW SIG
The creation of a new SIG requires a proposal
to be submitted to NACAC for review and
approval.
The proposal must include:
1. A SIG mission statement articulating how
the group furthers and promotes NACAC's
mission.
2. Identification of two committed co-leaders.
Both must be members of NACAC.
3. Signatures of at least 15 NACAC members.
Emails from NACAC members indicating
support of the proposed SIG and its
mission can serve as "signatures."
"The process of creating a NACAC SIG was
not overwhelming but did require some initial
legwork. After receiving initial approval and
support from NACAC leaders and the promise
of a meeting room at the next conference,
my colleague Alice Tanaka and I began
letting members know of our initial meeting,"
Kamimoto said.
"In those early days, we made flyers and
handed them out to people we knew and saw.
A lot of the networking happened by word of
mouth. During that first meeting, we all shared
reasons why we wanted to form a special
interest group and began discussions on our
first mission statement."
Corbin said the process of creating a SIG
was easy and straightforward.

"Carey Eskesen, fellow LD SIG co-founder,
and I drew up the proposed mission statement
while brainstorming at one of the conference
hotels in Boston. The next day I was part of a
speaker panel focusing on finding success for
the LD student," she said. "At the conclusion of
the session, I quickly polled attendees on their
interest level regarding the creation of a SIG
specific to students with learning differences.
The response was overwhelmingly in favor and
that day we collected far more than the 15
necessary signatures to form a SIG."
Moe didn't want to wait for the national
conference to create the Rural and Small
Town SIG. He was able to find the necessary
signatures in "an hour and a half after posting
our SIG idea on social media."
Once the group was created, SIG leaders
worked to spread the word and keep members
connected.
Growing a new group requires work, but
Moe said it is definitely worth it.
"We have made a concerted effort to ensure
everyone who cares about rural college access
and serves rural and small-town students
knows about our SIG," he said.
"We post daily to social media, connect with
rural education networks and organizations,
and conduct outreach to college admission
offices. Additionally, we have emailed
thousands of federally designated rural and
small-town high school counselors, rural
private schools, CBOs, and independent

education consultants," Moe said. "Soon,
we are launching our 50-state strategy with
members serving as state and local SIG
captains, encouraging others in their backyard
to join the SIG and spread the word among
their networks. Finally, we have developed
buttons, logos, and flyers and hand these out
at college admissions conferences, such as
the annual conference, ACAC conferences,
GWI, and the Rural College Access & Success
Summit. Since starting in November 2018,
we have gained more than 1,500 members
from all 50 states, US territories, and a dozen
countries around the world."
And while leaders of all SIGs must be
NACAC members, nonmembers can join a SIG
for free. Moe said this is crucial.
"Most of our counselor members are not
NACAC members, and when we asked
our members why they had not joined the
association, they reported that they lacked
professional development funds to do so,"
he said.
"We believe SIGs serve important
constituencies-those who might lack
membership funds for various reasons - and
that it's vital to offer our services and resources
for free."
Ashley Dobson formerly served as NACAC's
senior manager of communications, content
and social media.

Grow Your Network ... Learn more about NACAC's Special Interest Groups at nacacnet.org/SIGs.

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NACAC - Spring 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NACAC - Spring 2020