Advancement Associates News

3/24/2009
IMS embarks on mid-year enrollment plan

Iowa Mennonite School, a Mennonite high school in Kalona, IA is facing its enrollment challenges head-on. Leaders at the school have been paying enough attention to demographics and trends to know that, in spite of high rates of student retention and effective recruitment of Mennonite students, they need to be connecting with new student markets. In the meantime IMS has contracted with Advancement Associates for a mid-year enrollment plan—a plan aimed at optimizing enrollment for the 2009-10 school year and doing so largely with existing resources.

Principal Rich Gerig is supervising the effort, centered around a written blueprint that identifies fourteen separate strategies to be implemented over the next six months. These strategies rely heavily on increasing referrals of prospective students, establishing and strengthening relationships with various markets (home-schooled students, local K-8 Christian schools, Mennonite and selected other churches), and effectively communicating IMS’ mission and achievements to families unfamiliar with it. The plan also addresses the roles of international students and financial assistance.

While Larry Swartzendruber, development director, carries primary responsibility for implementing the plan, it also enlists the help of many others: parents, administrators, board members and staff.