It’s that time of the year again – time for me to start thinking about where I’ll be going in the fall and when. Last year it was a bit of a scary process — I had oodles of fair invitations that had been piling up all summer, I didn’t know my students very well (actually, I hardly knew them at all), I had never visited the majority of my destinations – it was a bit of a mess. Working closely with the Director of Admissions, I eventually put together a travel schedule.
In case you don’t remember, I kicked off my season with a trip to Tennessee, then I toured Virginia, jetted off to Alabama, pit stopped at home for Homecoming, then immediately left for Tennessee (again). From there it was Florida, Kentucky, and finally West Virginia. I left the office on September 1 and didn’t officially conclude travel until November 7. It was crazy, stressful, fun, and exciting. I experienced only 1 missed flight, 1 missed interview (which I wouldn’t 100% classify as missed, more like we mixed up our dates), and no major malfunctions 🙂
This year, I’ll head out again! As far as I know, my territory will remain the same, which is exciting. It means that all the amazing juniors I met with last fall/spring will continue to work with me, and all the contacts I made while on the road will be a huge help this season.
I’m approaching the planning part of my travel differently this year. One great thing about my job is that every counselor in the office has the opportunity to plan his or her travel whichever way works best for them, and this year I’m doing my best to plan things out early! I have a loose framework laid out, doing my best to be in town on nights when I’ll have class (I’m starting my MBA this summer!). I’m gathering information about fairs, checking to see when they were last year, and paying close attention to where my most active students are. There are some exciting trips in the works as well, hopefully to Arkansas, Indiana, and Louisiana where I didn’t get to go last year!
So my desk is a little bit of a mess, I’m looking at Excel spreadsheet after Excel spreadsheet trying to see where my students are, and still paying attention to Open House dates, PSAT dates, and holidays. So happy planning to me – as soon as I have things finalized, all of you will be notified, so get excited! 🙂
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