Recognizing Collective Efforts for Seamless Advising Solutions

On March 18th, 2025,  we hosted the 3rd Annual Seamless Advising Summit. The Summit, planned and supported by the New Skills Boston network, brought together over 350 practitioners from secondary, postsecondary, and community organizations. The event allows for them to engage in professional development, with the goal of making transitions more seamless for students as they progress through education systems and into careers. 

This year, we launched the inaugural Collective Genius Awards. The Collective Genius Awards recognized teams whose work exemplifies exceptional collaboration and creativity, advancing postsecondary enrollment, completion, and seamless student transitions. The awards recognized that true progress is achieved when individuals and institutions work together to develop innovative solutions. 

Postsecondary Transitions & FAFSA Completion Initiative: This Collective Genius award recognized the activation and formalization of partnerships between Boston Public Schools and local community-based organizations to increase college and career readiness support and FAFSA completion. Through an innovative summer pilot, counselors, coaches, and educators across Boston collaborated to increase FAFSA completion rates, resulting in an innovative model that can be replicated in the future.

Integrated Career-Connected Learning: This Collective Genius award recognized the partnership between the Boston Private Industry Council and the Boston Public Schools to increase access to career readiness experiences in Boston schools. The longstanding partnership between the two has expanded opportunities for students to engage in career exploration and plan for their future. This year marked a milestone achievement with a record 9,000 students working in summer jobs in 2024. 

Joint Admissions Agreement: This Collective Genius award recognized the joint admission planning teams from Bunker Hill Community College and the University of Massachusetts - Boston for their efforts in creating a joint admissions program with shared, holistic advising and student support. The work of these teams to make joint admissions a reality has deepened connections between the colleges, streamlined systems, and, going forward, will create seamless transitions for students moving between the two institutions. 

Shared Training and Development: The final Collective Genius Award was presented to the New Skills Boston Postsecondary Transitions Working Group for advancing shared training and development opportunities through the Seamless Advising Summit. The Summit represents one of four key strategies identified by New Skills Boston for connecting college and career systems, and in its third year, has gained national attention and been replicated by three other cities.

Boston’s work to make transitions more seamless for students continues. We look forward to continued collaboration and partnership over the next year.