Logistics

Contingency Plan

Our contingency plan was to have two dates set aside for the program just in case it rained. Since it was a campus tour, it could not be moved indoors, and rain would have directly impacted the number of students who showed up. We planned for the program to take place on Wednesday, April 19, with a back-up date set for Wednesday, April 26.

If it did start raining after the tour had started, or if we had extra time, we planned to prolong certain aspects of the tour, such as Talley and Reynolds. Also, if we had extra time, we could have gone to see other parts of campus such as the dorms, or we could have gone inside more buildings, such as the library. If it did start raining, it would not have been too much of an issue, as most of the places we visited were covered, and if needed, we could have improvised some trash bag ponchos. If we ended up running low on time, we planned on taking some shortcuts, skipping over certain aspects of the tour, or cutting down the amount of time spent at certain places.

Similar to the first program, it would have been left to the discretion of the TOPs supervisors whether to hold or cancel the program if either it was raining or if there was a threat of rain. We learned that many of the students walk home when the programs end for the evening, so if there was even a threat of rain, many students would just skip TOPs and go straight home. We did have a small chance of rain on the day we held the program, so we made sure to keep in contact with our supervisors throughout the day to see what they wanted us to do.

Facility

The tour took place all over the campus at NC State University. The main spots that participants visited were Talley Student Union, Reynolds Coliseum, Carmichael Gym, the Free Expression Tunnel, the Bell Tower, the Brickyard and the Court of Carolinas. Below is a map of the tour route that the participants got to take.

Marketing Plans

In order to market the campus tour program we visited the Chavis site as well as the Method Road TOPS site to tell the kids about this event and to get them excited about it. We informed them of the ice cream and doughnuts as well as a possible appearance from some of NC State’s best football players. We also created flyers to hand out and display at the two sites to remind the teens of this program so they were more inclined to attend. Below is an example of the flyer for the event.

Staff Considerations

For this event we did not need to recruit volunteers. We decided that the six of us [group members] would lead on single group of TOPS teens through the campus tour. One of us served as the photographer/videographer, two of us served as rovers that picked supplies and set up stations as the program happened, and three of us served us tour leaders. Beyond that, we knew that the TOPS staff from the sites that were attending our event would be present and that they would help supervise the TOPS participants.

We felt they we would serve best as the main staff for this event because as NC State students we are very knowledgeable on NC State traditions and campus life. We also felt that the TOPS teens would get more out of the program if we served as the tour guides because we felt we could serve as role models since we are college students. To prepare ourselves for this event, we did a walk through of our campus tour to figure out how long the tour would take, where we wanted to stop, and what information we would share at each stop.

The roles of the TOPS staff was to supervise participants by making sure they were staying safe and encouraging them to participate in the program. All TOPS staff are employees of the City of Raleigh, thus they receive specific training on how to supervise teens. We encouraged TOPS staff to participate in activities to make the teens feel more comfortable and to also create an engaging atmosphere for this our campus tour.

Safety and Risk Management

1. Activity Selection/Program Design: In order to safeguard our program we ran through each of the stations beforehand to ensure that the participants are safe while doing these activities. We also gave the participants a talk about our expectations throughout the program before the start of the program. Some of these expectations included staying with the group, listening to all staff and PRT students, and respecting each other since they are from different TOPS sites. Furthermore, since the Free Expression Tunnel is a station, we warned the students that anything in the tunnel is not a reflection of NC State or us, students and that they should be mature about what they may see in the tunnel and spray paint themselves in the tunnel.

2.Manner of Conducting the Activity and Supervision of Participants: Throughout our program there were plenty of supervisors to oversee the participants. Staff members from each site came with the teens to campus as well as the PRT students who supervised. Our advisers were also on site and were hyper-vigilant about making sure everyone was safe and following the City of Raleigh’s rules. Furthermore, since the teens are older, they were aware to stay with the group especially when they were in a new place, but we reminded them of this during the beginning of the program. We also had a meeting spot in case a teen did get lost. Lastly, we made sure to keep count of how many teens were in attendance and at every station we did a headcount.

3. Environmental Conditions/Hazards: Since we were mostly outside for our program, if there were any environmental issues during the program, we planned to go into a building and continue as much of the program as we could. If it were to rain the day of our program, we had a backup date just in case. Furthermore, the TOPS program leaders had a first aid kit that they carried around for any minor injuries or hazards. We also had access to University Police since we were on campus. Other hazards that could have occurred are allergies or breathing problems due to the ice cream and doughnuts or the spray paint. One way we combated this was by warning the teens that if they start to feel lightheaded or dizzy to tell a leader and step away from the area we are spray painting at. Furthermore, we asked the teens at the start of the program to warn us of any allergies they have. Lastly, while on campus we followed all campus wide rules and alerts.

Budget/Resource Allocation

Most of the supplies during the college tour are already on site and will not be an expense. Yet for the traditions part of the program supplies is needed. Supplies needed include spray paint, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and wipes/paper towels. The quantities of these supplies depend on the number of participants anticipated. Howling Cow ice cream is also donated through NC State since we were working with the City of Raleigh. Spending time at Reynolds Coliseum is also “donated” since our team member, Rachel is on the volleyball team. The handing out of candy prizes at the end for those teens that can answer trivia questions is from our previous program at Pullen Park.

Evaluation of Participants

One way we were able to tell if participants accomplished our goals was by listening to their interactions with ourselves and other participants. Throughout the program we heard the teens discussing the places they had visited on campus and the traditions they had learned about. Another way could tell that participants had accomplished our goals was by them asking questions throughout the campus tour. By asking questions, we could tell that the teens were curious about college and that they were paying attention to the information we shared on the tour. Also, doing interviews after the program helped us to see if we were successful in our participant goals. Interviews are below of some the teens that participated in the campus tour.

Evaluation of Program

As a group we looked at our participant evaluations to see how effective our program was. Furthermore, we gauged how well we worked as a group before the program and during the program. After the program we discussed areas of improvement that the TOPS leaders can implement if they want to repeat this program. Our supervisors shared with us what they thought went well and what we could improve on. We also completed a SWOT analysis to see what areas worked well regarding the event and the planning of the event as well as what adjustments we recommended for ourselves.