Sarah Novak, Worldwide Recruitment Specialist

One of the many volunteer hats I wear is that of Worldwide Recruitment Specialist (my self-appointment title) for the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University (CSB/SJU) in Minnesota.  I’ve talked before about how my experience there changed my life, so it’s a no-brainer to stay involved in recruiting superb individuals to carry on the Bennie & Johnnie name (because the value MY degree only depends on the strength of future classes).  Hence, it is important that I find even MORE BRILLIANT AND INVOLVED students than I was.  Tough challenge, I know….but I’m up for it!

I had helped with recruiting back when I lived in Minnesota, so it seemed like a reasonable idea that I could do it overseas too.  As soon as I got the thumbs up from Admissions, I began developing relationships with the two International Schools in town (Brent and the International School of Manila).  I had a blast going and talking with potential students about what the schools have to offer (and downplaying the harsh winter, of course).  Quite honestly, I was blown away by the caliber of students I was seeing here and knew CSB/SJU could benefit from devoting additional resources to recruiting them.

You know that old saying, “The squeaky wheel gets the oil.”  Let’s just say that I have a gift for being heard.  :)  After much discussion, I convinced CSB/SJU to send an Admissions Rep to the Philippines to meet my incredible students and begin developing long-term relationships with the schools here.  For my part, I offered to house and transport the Admissions Rep to help defer some of the unbudgeted costs of sending them here (I worked in Academia for a bit, I know how the game works).

And just like that, we were on our way.  Katie (the CBS/SJU rep) arrives late Saturday night and will be staying with us for 5 days.  We will be visiting the two international schools, hosting a dinner or 2 at our house for prospective students and getting her oriented to Manila so that when I’m not here next year she’ll be comfortable enough to come back without me.

Imagine my delight the other day when I learned that one of the students had already submitted her application!  After jumping up and down for 5 minutes straight, I immediately emailed a friend/classmate from St. Ben’s to share the news and 3 hours later had a reply from her saying that she’d host my Filipino recruits for long weekends and do airport pick-ups!  Now that’s hospitality — the Bennie way!

I’ll have more posts coming about Katie’s time here, as well as updates on how many students I’m able to successfully recruit.  Do stay tuned, okay?  This is going to get exciting…