Purpose of Principal Match Message

The “Principal Match Message” is an email sent to partner school leaders (and school-based point people) annually by the Director of School Partnerships, or your program staff person that oversees/managers school partnerships, alerting them to the end of iMentor orientation for participating students and communicating that students have been matched and have begun to email their mentors.

iMentor NYC sends these emails, termed “Principal Match Messages”, to school leaders at new partner sites and returning sites where the organization has enrolled a new cohort of students. These emails are generally sent one week prior to the first iMentor event of the year, the kick-off event, typically held at the partner high school.

These “just in time updates” are useful for school leaders as they serve a few purposes. They allow iMentor to:

• Communicate to school leaders and relevant school staff members that iMentor orientation is complete for participating students and that students have been matched and have begun to email their mentors.
• Share a status update on the current number of students matched and number of students that will not be matched prior to the first event, with corresponding rationale.
• Remind schools of the upcoming iMentor kick-off event, and encourage their attendance and participation at the event.
• Provide schools with some basic information about the college-educated professionals that will serve as their students’ mentors.

Preparing the Principal Match Message

The match message should generally include the following information:

• Relevant career-related information on mentors (top fields and companies that mentors have been pulled from);
• Logistics about the event date (day, date, time location, any other pertinent information); and
• The number of students that will not be matched prior to the first event with corresponding rationale (i.e. missing parental consent forms, have not completed application on platform, not eligible to be matched due to poor school attendance, or resistance to participation on the part of the student or parent). This last piece of information serves to prevent schools from being surprised if a large number of students have not yet been matched. We also ask for schools' continual support in collecting necessary consents and helping us educate parents about the program.