ICGS Headways™ Recruiting & Retaining Students 2023-2024 by Jean Baker

Hello from your ICGS staff liaison!

jbaker185 — 2023-10-11 19:24:43 UTC

Welcome to the 2023-2024 Headways™ cohort for "Recruiting & Retaining Students: Effective Enrollment Management Strategies at Girls’ Schools!"

My name is Jean Baker, and I'm the Director of Membership & Outreach at ICGS. This is my fifth year in the role, and my previous position was on the admissions team at St. Catherine's School in Richmond, Virginia, USA (where I'm still based). I love the exciting and ever-changing/challenging work of enrollment management.

Serving as a staff liaison for Headways™ is one of my favorite aspects of my job, and I'm looking forward to meeting all of you and learning about the creative ways you are navigating recruitment and retention at your girls' schools!

Connect with me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jean-baker-78a2854a/

Hello from your Co-Facilitator

Joloreal — 2023-10-12 14:12:18 UTC

My name is Lori Guy, and I'm the director of strategy at Hutchison School in Memphis, Tennessee {U.S.A.}. This is my 9th year at Hutchison, and my 3rd year in this particular role. While I'm not an official members of our admissions team, I work closely with that team because enrollment is one of our school's top strategic priorities.

What I like most about my job is that I get to facilitate collaboration across the school and serve as a trusted advisor not only to the President and the Head of School, but also to the other administrative leaders across the school.

I am humbled and a bit nervous to be serving as a co-facilitator of this Headways cohort, because I feel like I have so much to learn from you and the ever-evolving world of private school admissions and retention.

You can find me on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loriguy/

2023-10-13 18:02:50 UTC

Hello amazing colleagues. I am excited to be joining Lori Guy as co-facilitators of the Recruiting & Retaining Students Headways program.

My name is Kimberly Carter and I am the Executive Director, Enrolment Management for Branksome Hall. Branksome is Toronto's only IB World School for girls and is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In my role, I am responsible for Admissions, Financial Assistance and Boarding and have been working at Branksome for over 20 years. I am an alum of the school and a current Grade 9 advisor. I have worked in admissions since 2008 and assumed the ED role in 2018.

I am passionate about girls education and empowering women to be the change agents the world needs. I am looking forward to our great conversations and hope to gain new insights and learning from all of you as we share effective enrollment management strategies at Girls Schools.

Here's to a awesome year ahead!

Hello from New Orleans!

2023-10-13 21:34:10 UTC

My name is Julee LaPorte, and I'm the Director of Enrollment Management at the Louise S. McGehee School in New Orleans, Louisiana. We are a PK-12 girls school, and we are the only all-girls school in Louisiana that is not affiliated with a religious institution. This is my 15th year at McGehee, and my 6th year in admissions. I'm very excited to connect and learn from this amazing group!

sbroadhurst2 — 2023-10-16 12:00:14 UTC

Hello everyone! I'm Stephanie Broadhurst, Director of Enrolment Management at The Sacred Heart School of Montreal, Canada. We're the only all girls English Catholic school in Quebec and we offer a downtown boarding experience.

This is my 9th year at Sacred Heart. But 13th year in admissions. I love meeting new families and students to help them navigate the admissions process and get familiar with our school. Recruiting internationally also provides diversity to the role. And this year, I am bringing back the Service Project that hasn't happened since the pandemic and we will be bringing 15 girls to Costa Rica to help out in Green Communities - sustainable coffee farms in Los Santos.

I look forward to gaining insight from colleagues around North America to see how we can add new initiatives at Sacred Heart!

2023-10-17 19:41:40 UTC

My name is Stacey Vincent and I am the Manager of Enrollment Operations at The Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, PA. Baldwin is a PK-12 school in a very saturated independent school market in the Philadelphia suburbs. As a school, we are always looking to discover new ways to improve our recruitment and retention processes and build upon our strengths to help us stand out against the (friendly) competition. Looking forward to hearing from and being inspired by you all!

2023-10-19 16:26:50 UTC

Hello everyone. My name is Giselle Fernandes, and I am the Associate Director of Enrollment Management at Holy Name of Mary College School, located in Mississauga, Canada. We are the only independent Catholic school for girls (Grs. 5-12) in Ontario.

I've been at Holy Name for over 10 years now but this is my 2nd year in this role. I am excited to connect with everyone, be a part of this group, and learn new strategies & initiatives that we can use at Holy Name.

Greetings from San Diego!

2023-10-19 22:35:17 UTC

Hello! My name is Diana Agostini and I am the Director of Admissions at the Academy of Our Lady of Peace (9-12) in San Diego. I have been at OLP for 2 years, and in admissions (6-12 and higher ed) since 2014.

I am passionate about our mission and love the opportunity to connect with colleagues to share best practices, new ideas, and build a community! Looking forward to journeying with you!

2023-10-20 12:47:09 UTC

Hi! My name is Sophia Vallada and I’m Associate Director of Admissions at St. Mary’s Academy. We are located in downtown Portland, OR!

I am excited to network and learn more from peers at other girls schools.

Hello from New York!

2023-10-20 13:07:49 UTC

Hi! My name is Megan Klingenberger and I'm the Admission Coordinator for Nursery-Class V at Marymount School of New York. We are an independent Catholic school in Manhattan.

After seven years in the classroom, this is my first year working in admissions. I am grateful for the opportunity to connect with colleagues from peer schools and to learn from one another.

Hi from Notre Dame Academy, Hingham

2023-10-20 13:25:11 UTC

Hi everyone. My name is Zac Songer and I am joining you from NDA in Hingham, Massachusetts. I am the Director of Enrollment Strategy.

NDA was the first all-girls day school in Massachusetts! We were founded in 1853 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur on the ideology of educating and empowering the next generation of women leaders, preparing girls to use education, service and faith to change the world. NDA focuses on developing girls’ extraordinary potential, educating their hearts, minds and souls, so they have the confidence, wisdom and will to lead throughout their lives.

We are a 7-12 institution with an enrolment of 450 girls. We're looking forward to joining this cohort!

Hello

2023-10-20 13:31:55 UTC

Hello, My name is Kerry Stevens and I am the Director of Admissions at the Nashoba Brooks School in Concord, MA, all genders PS through Grade 3 and students identifying as girls Grades 4 through Grade 8. We currently have an enrollment of 240 students.

I am looking forward to conversations around innovative approches to enrollent and retention strategies.

2023-10-20 13:32:31 UTC

Hello to all - I am Kristin Moody, Admission Associate at Nashoba Brooks School in Concord, Massachusetts. This is my third year in Admission work but I have been a teacher previously at Nashoba Brooks in Grades 4-8 Writing and Humanities and a Secondary School Advisor. I have also worked at boarding schools at the Grade 9-12 level as a College Counselor, an English teacher, dorm faculty and as a coach.

I have seen the transformational power of girls' education as the Middle School at Nashoba Brooks School in Grades 4-8 is comprised of all students who identify as girls while PS-Grade 3 is coed. I am excited to join with others who are teaching and preparing girls for the world and helping each student pursue their passions and develop confidence.

Hello from Minnesota!

2023-10-20 14:34:08 UTC

Hello! I am Stephanie Johnson and I work at Visitation School in Saint Paul, Minnesota as an Enrollment Specialist. We are a co-ed PreK-5 and all-girls 6-12 school with an enrollment of 570 students. I have been in my role for 2.5 years after spending 3 years running our alumnae program and events.

As an alum and current parent myself, I feel very strongly about continuing to strengthen our school's legacy and am particularly passionate about our all-girls environment in our middle and upper schools.

I am looking forward to being a part of this group to learn from others in similar schools around the country and discuss new and innovative admissions, enrollment and retention strategies, trends and tools. Excited to be a part of the conversation!

Hello from Ontario!

2023-10-20 15:27:37 UTC

My name is Natascia Stewart, Associate Director, Admission for St. Anne's School. After 18 years of working in Admissions for St. Andrew's College, an all-boys school, I moved to SAS, to manage the Admission process and lend my expertise to help launch SAS as a partner school to SAC.
Located in Aurora, Ontario, we are the only all-girls school in York Region (just north of Toronto, Canada). We are in our second official year, having opened our doors to an inaugural group of Grade 9 students in 2022. These students, the First Cygnets, will be our first graduating class in June 2026. (My daughter is a member of this group)
Just six weeks ago, we opened the doors of our newly renovated campus to our 174 students who are now in Grades 5 - 10. Although we have just moved in, we are definitely feeling at home in our new space. Professionally, it has been truly inspiring seeing our halls filled with the eager young women who I met in the last year, come together as a group and bring St. Anne's to life.
I look forward to learning from all of you. In particular about best practices in recruitment and retention strategies that you have found useful in all Girls Schools.

2023-10-20 16:59:02 UTC

Hi everyone! My name is Michelle Rounick and I am the Director of Middle and Upper School Enrollment at The Baldwin School. Baldwin is a PK-12 all girls school in the Philadelphia suburbs. I am also a Baldwin graduate! There are so many educational opportunities in the surrounding area, so I am looking forward to connecting with peers from schools across the country to discuss recruitment, enrollment, and retention!

What tips and strategies have worked well for the group in the last couple of years?

2023-12-08 18:38:34 UTC

Putting teachers and other non-admissions leaders at feeder school events so the conversations are authentic and not too "sales-y". This also helps get out of our "silos" and is a relatively inexpensive way to get involved in the community.
Frontload some "pain point" questions before families even ask about them (ie not having a football team)
Don't let coed and boys' school sports get all the glory - amplify your girls' school athletic competitions!
Joint events with brother school (if you have one) can be an influential enrollment management strategy. The key to those being successful is that to rely on the Upper School students to lead the events. A. it's more fun when the students run it, but more importantly, (2) the prospective families can SEE the relationships between the boys and girls and the older girls and the younger girls.
PeerPal - a platform that can live on your school's website that allows prospective families to engage with current students and parents. Example: Branksome Hall: https://branksomeparents.peerpal.app/
School has invested in security - and this has made a good impression on prospective families.
Maximize enrollment in the lower grades to have natural feeder to higher grades.

natasharobinson3 — 2023-12-08 20:03:28 UTC

Hi all. My name is Natasha Robinson, and I am Senior Associate Director of Admission and Financial Aid at the Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, TN. We are 5th-12th, with an enrollment of 724

I am in year four, coming from higher ed admission previously, and am always curious to hear the pain points, triumphs, ideas, and innovations happening at other girls' schools. I love talking through ways to build school community and student ambassador programs, and enjoy sharing tips on practices to strengthen organizational leadership within teams.