Admissions travel aims to encourage campus visits
Members of Erskine’s admissions staff hit the road this fall, bringing the Erskine spirit to college fairs and other key recruiting events. “College fair travel is a tradition going back several decades,” says Senior Director of Enrollment Gabe Hollingsworth.
“College fairs provide prospective students and families the opportunity to meet with college representatives from all sorts of schools in one place.”
Seven members of the Erskine Admissions team, including Hollingsworth, have journeyed not only to college fairs, but also to high school lunch visits, guidance counselor meetings, and speaking engagements in individual high schools.
Admissions staff members Robin Broome and Jamie Williams, for example, have notched up many hours and miles this fall while traveling for Erskine. Broome has visited 28 schools and Williams about 38. In the process, they have increased Erskine’s name recognition, encouraged high schoolers navigating the college admissions process, and served as goodwill ambassadors.
“It is important for Erskine to be visible and engaged in the local school community,” Hollingsworth says. “We want to be partners with public and public charter schools, private high schools, and homeschool groups throughout our region.”
Broome has added 11 schools to her schedule of visits this fall, and she believes returning for a second visit after a month is useful. “I take giveaways and as I go back to the school the next month, it gives students an opportunity to come back to the Erskine table,” she says. “At each visit, the students become more comfortable approaching the table.”
The phrase “External Relations and Recruitment” constitutes Jamie Williams’s title. He visited independent and Christian schools this fall and speaks in such venues as Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) events.
“My presentation does not change, whether I’m speaking to a private, Christian, or public school,” he says. “I want to give an accurate picture of what Erskine is and what values we strive to make a priority.”
Getting Erskine’s name out and communicating what that name signifies are valuable travel aims for recruiters. Hollingsworth takes it a step further. “Sending staff on the road is good, but the ultimate goal is to get prospective families to visit campus so that they can experience Erskine firsthand,” he says. Achieving that goal can take time and patience.
Williams occasionally runs into difficulties in scheduling school visits, but he maintains his sense of humor. “One time there was a school that I was having a continuing challenge trying to book, and I posted a picture of me in front of the school that was their archrival,” he says. “That night there were tags on my pictures from parents wanting to know why I hadn’t been to their school. The next day I got a call and the date was set.”
Both Broome and Williams believe in Erskine and enjoy working with prospective students.
“Some do not have a clue what they want to do after high school, and we complement the work of the guidance counselors by helping them understand those next steps and how to achieve them,” Broome explains. “Yes, it is about recruiting student to Erskine College, but it is also helping them to become successful in the direction they wish to go.”
Williams says that since he has been traveling for Erskine, he has heard from people with whom he attended high school and college, letting him know, for example, that “I spoke to their teenager that day and I didn’t even know it,” he says. For him, this is a reminder that “every student I speak with is highly important and deserves my full attention and encouragement.”
In addition to Broome and Williams, Hollingsworth says he and staff members Madyson Barton (now serving in Financial Aid), Carly Rogers, Elizabeth Sims, and Grace Zentmeyer traveled for Erskine’s Admissions office during the fall semester.
