From Sunsets to School Growth – A Look Back on 2017

The beach is my reflection spot and I love to take a walk at sunset. This is one of the benefits of living in Florida! Every sunset is different. I love this sunset picture that I just took on New Year’s Eve with my new iPhone X.

How did 2017 go for you? What were you able to accomplish? Did you achieve your enrollment and marketing goals for the year?

2017 was a very busy year for me. In my work as an enrollment catalyst, I am grateful for the opportunity to help many schools.

The following are some of my highlights from this past year:

• Conducted 26 school site visits in 19 different states to begin my Enrollment Catalyst Program. California led the way with the most trips (six) to begin work with four schools in 2017 and speak at two conferences.
• Worked with 61 different schools all at various points in their enrollment and marketing effort (this is a record for me!).
• Presented workshops at the AISAP Summer Institute in Dana Point, CA; ACSI Administrator’s Conference in Yosemite, CA; SBACS Admissions Roundtable in Baton Rouge, LA; and Brendan Schneider’s VirCon5.
• Developed and conducted nearly 50 school surveys to measure satisfaction among parents, staff and alumni.

Several schools that I partnered with experienced significant growth including:

• Over 25% growth at Moses Lake Christian Academy in WA
• 16% growth at Delaware Christian School in OH
• 6% growth at Redwood Christian Schools in CA
• 5% growth at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy in FL

While I didn’t write as many blog posts last year as I have in past years, the following were my top posts according to page views on Google:

• Does Your School Need a Doctor? 3 Key Ingredients for a Healthy School
• 4 Brand Lessons to apply in your school from In-n-Out Burger
• Every School Website Must have this key ingredient
• Need to Boost Enrollment? 7 Powerful Reasons to Harness Google Search
• 5 Ways to Promote Your First Day of School

In addition, I conducted several webinars. In case you missed any of these webinars, the recordings are available on my website. You can click on these links to listen to the recordings after you enter your name and email address:

• 10 Key Ingredients for your School’s Recruitment Plan – Presented by Rick Newberry
• Marketing Your School to Millennials – Presented by Jaclyn Day and Courtney Haindel
• Rolling Out the Red Carpet: Creating an Intentional Student and Customer Experience – Presented by Donna Cutting.

I am thankful for the continued opportunity to partner with school leaders and to help school heads, admissions directors and marketing directors. My passion is to be an enrollment catalyst in order to grow the enrollment and to help a school team achieve their goals. As you begin 2018, let me know if there is anything I can help you with at your school. You can reach me at Rick.Newberry@EnrollmentCatalyst.com.