Admissions Update

piv ting to virtual

Since 2014, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has surveyed its members to get their opinion on the word of the year. The word that rose to the top in 2020 was “pivot.” Erin Wallin, Admissions Director, agrees, as NFA’s admissions season continued with her pivoting live admissions events to virtual ones. Due to COVID restrictions on campuses across the country, standard face-to-face admissions events are temporarily a thing of the past.

In Erin’s experience in admissions for the past seven years, once a prospective family came onto campus, met our students and faculty, and visited our classrooms, they were usually sold. “Admissions relies heavily on face-to-face connection, and although we had to ’pivot,’ we continue to keep the core of the SSJ mission alive in finding ways to build relationships,” she says. “So many members of the NFA community have contributed, and it’s the quality and spirit of the pivot that reflects what makes NFA so special.”

Erin added more Open House sessions to the calendar and adapted her Zoom presentations to PowerPoint and videos to show the highlights of NFA. She was joined by Dr. Ryan Killeen, President, and Nancy Peluso, Principal, who live streamed to Open House participants as they ’walked’ prospective parents on a virtual tour of classrooms and the campuses. Dr. Killeen covered the Norwood Campus, and Nancy covered Fontbonne, and families could see in real time what was happening in our classrooms and on our campuses. Shannon Craige, NFA’s Director of Curriculum and Innovation, was on hand to answer questions from prospective families, too.

A recent attendee of a Zoom Open House complimented the session, writing in an email to Erin, “First, I just wanted to say how much [my husband and I] enjoyed the virtual tour this week. We’ve done a few of these recently, and Norwood’s was by far the most thoughtful and well executed. We really got a good understanding of what the Norwood experience was like and how [our son] will fit into your overall program.” Erin shared that shortly after she received the note, the family applied to NFA.

The addition of Ravenna, a web-based admission system, where prospective families can apply online, has made admissions more seamless and efficient. Applicants, too, are able to track the status of their application, so admissions leadership and applicants can see where they are in the process.

Along with virtual admissions events, the admissions page on NFA’s website serves as a hub for prospective parents to meet the Admissions Director, register for upcoming events, view videos, or download admissions viewbook PDFs based on the grades in which they are interested (pre-k to grade 3 and Montessori, grades 4 and 5, and grades 6 to 8). “It’s intentionally set up so prospective families can get a pretty full picture of NFA,” says Trish Bradley, Director of Communications and Marketing. “It’s a great starting point for Erin to begin, or even continue, a connection with parents looking for a right-fit educational experience.”

It’s that connection that Erin continues with prospective families after they become current families. She keeps in contact with them, and aids them in onboarding, answers questions and guides them to make contacts with faculty, staff and fellow parents with events like Coffee Chats with the President throughout the year. While many of the admissions events and communication had become virtual, Erin makes sure she pivots back and maintains the one-on-one relationship that makes NFA’s Admissions Office stand out.

“...Norwood’s [virtual tour] was by far the most thoughtful and well executed.”