Reaching out to talk with junior and senior students at St. Mary’s School, new Northwestern State University president James “Jimmy” Genovese and the university’s top two recruiting staff members visited the East Fifth Street school Tuesday morning.
Genovese spoke to the Natchitoches Central High School senior class last month at the NCHS senior breakfast downtown on Cane River Lake. The busy NSU leader made it a priority to meet and greet SMS students Tuesday, and offered remarks to the group about the many opportunities at Northwestern.
President Genovese shared why St. Mary’s students should stay local for college. He cited cost savings, close proximity to family, and said NSU is the ideal size to have a personalized campus experience. He touted the wide range of academic programs that provide pathways to immediate employment after graduation in professional fields.
The university’s director of enrollment management, Van Erikson, shared the value of NSU through scholarship packaging and matching, as well as highlighting academic offerings, including the state’s best nursing program. He stressed the immediate impact students can make at Northwestern through student life and leadership opportunities, and the personal connection students have throughout the recruiting process, leading to creating a VIP experience at NSU.
The enthusiastic St. Mary’s students were led through processes of applying to NSU, and a question and answer session with Emily Miller, the university’s director of recruiting.
NSU’s Enrollment and Recruiting Offices spends the fall executing priority school visits throughout the state to recruit students. Starting locally and regionally and moving around the state, Northwestern’s recruiters last year completed 43 of these priority visits in 13 parishes, said Erikson. At the visits, special guests make appearances to further showcase NSU.
President Genovese will travel to many of these upcoming visits.
Erikson and Miller said high school seniors should consider applying prior to a Oct. 31 scholarship deadline to be top priorities for the best scholarship offers. They encouraged the students to visit on a personalized tour any weekday (scheduling a visit through nsu.la/tours) and stressed a great opportunity is approaching with N-Side View Preview Day on Saturday, Oct. 12 (pre-register at NSU.LA/NsideView).
