The temperatures are climbing and the sun is shining, but the UCDS team is still hard at work! Jane Griffin wants you to know that summer vacation isn’t just a time for fun. -Ed.

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Summer is here! Time for Vacation! But not for me and many staff members at UCDS. When the school year is winding down and everyone is excited about their summertime plans:  trips, camping, or just hanging out, I’m always asked, “Do you work in the summer?” I’m asked by parents, my friends, and my family. This year, my own daughter asked me why I work in the summer!  “There is no school so why do you work during summer vacation, Mom?”  I do understand why I’m asked. It’s a common assumption that school employees don’t work during the summer months – because what really needs to be done at a school when the school year is over? Well, for UCDS –  a lot!  Not only do we have summer camps that run from late June to early August, but all departments continue to work on their regular duties – some  working on huge projects.

While the Admission Office is definitely not as busy as it is during the school year, and especially not as busy as it is during admission season, we do have a lot of work to do.  For our new incoming students, we set them up with a Buddy Family. A Buddy Family is when a new family is matched with a returning/current family. The current family and the new family are able to chat by phone or email, and more often than not, they schedule a playdate or two so they can meet before school begins. The process of connecting families takes some thoughtfulness and often feels like matchmaking. We are pretty good at it!

During the early summer months we work on matriculation and re-enrollment. We will have a new Student Information Database this year, so the configuration process will take a lot of time, as well as learning how to use it. Throughout the summer we also field phone calls from prospective parents and give tours to out-of-state families who are in Seattle for a limited amount of time. We gear up for the new admission season by designing new marketing materials, targeting prospective families ,and setting up the admission application, which opens in late August.

Each year, applicants to UCDS come from over 100 preschools. One of our jobs is to understand the wide variety of programs in the schools where our applicants come from and for those preschools to understand more about UCDS. So, we visit preschools, which take up a lot of time, but is so worthwhile!

There you have it. We’re busy in the summer! But also thankful for a slightly slower pace. So what are you doing this summer?  I’ll be working…