9P1 Building Relationships with Organizations that Provide STI with Students

STI is a regional institute generally serving southeast South Dakota, southwest Minnesota, and northwest Iowa. Therefore, STI develops its relationships with the organizations located in these areas. To a lesser extent, STI has established additional relationships with southeast North Dakota and the remaining portions of South Dakota. A number of avenues create opportunities for STI to build relationships:

Tech Prep: A full-time Tech Prep Coordinator builds relationships with the regional K-12 school systems through visits to high schools, classroom presentations on the opportunities in technical education, and meetings with high school staff, instructors, and administrators. Tech Prep also provides opportunities for high school students to come on campus and participate in learning sessions such as “Scrubs Camp” for health programs and Tech camp for technology programs. Summer tech camps for middle school students help them explore technology careers in computer programming, graphics, and systems administration. Sharing the stories of technical education and the variety of careers available with potential students and their counselors, peers, and parents increases the likelihood that they will choose STI. Over 50 course articulation agreements have been established throughout the state between South Dakota high schools and the four state technical institutes.

High School Visits: STI recruiters visit regional high schools to meet with students interested in attending STI or to talk to classes about technical education. The recruiters build relationships with the high school career counselors and keep them informed about STI programs. Additionally, faculty visit area schools to do presentations about STI and its programs, particularly in programs with low enrollments.

Visitation Days: Throughout the year STI Admissions coordinates opportunities for students from area high schools to visit the campus and explore various programs. During these “visitation days,” faculty present mini-course sessions to give students a sense of what the various programs involve. This provides these students the opportunity to learn more about career fields and meet with program instructors directly.

Articulation Agreements: STI’s articulation agreements with area high schools and with public and private universities allow students to transfer coursework to STI. The State of South Dakota mandated general education articulation between the four technical institutes and the public four-year universities. STI also works with the three other technical institutes in the state to coordinate the delivery of technical education in the state and advocate for funding. STI has also developed specific articulation partnerships with private transfer institutions such as Bellevue University in Omaha, Nebraska, and the University of Sioux Falls. The most recent articulation, approved by the Board of Regents for fall 2010, is a forward and reverse articulation agreement between STI and the University of South Dakota for six AAS health programs.