As the cornerstone of Social Justice Week at Jesuit High School in Portland, OR, the Jesuit Day of Community & Action was a day for students and faculty/staff to engage in a “mini-conference” with a keynote address and workshops on a variety of issues related to social justice. Taking place on March 17, 2021, students, faculty, and external speakers facilitated the sessions and agenda. While it was originally intended to be an in-person event, it was redesigned as a virtual event due to the limitations on large-group events under Oregon state guidelines for school operations at the time.
When we realized early in 2021 that the event would have to be virtual, it forced us to revise our overall vision and think carefully about the logistics of organizing the attendance of over 1400 people for a virtual one-day mini-conference. Sched to the rescue! Setting up the event via Sched allowed a small team of three people to organize an amazing keynote speaker and over 30 workshops from people both inside and outside our community. Given that it was an educational event for high school students, we really appreciated how easy it was to get all the students set up with accounts, keep the event private, and organize all of the speakers and sessions into a coherent package that was easy for everyone to navigate.
– Alyssa Tormala, Jesuit High School, Vice Principal of PD and Innovation
How Jesuit High School used Sched to create an educational experience while keeping their participants’ information secure and attendees engaged:
- Collaborating with a small but mighty team by adding additional admins to the event to work together in real-time.
- Setting the event to private to ensure sensitive participants information isn’t searchable online.
- Publishing a color-coded agenda so everyone can participate in the sessions that are important to them throughout the day.
The feedback from our community was hugely positive, both about the content and the Sched tool, and we will definitely plan to use Sched again next year even if we are able to hold the event in person.
– Alyssa Tormala, Jesuit High School, Vice Principal of PD and Innovation
