In November 2019, the Nouvel Catholic Central Board of Trustees and the administrative team enlisted help from a strategic enrollment and marketing consultant to evaluate our enrollment and marketing efforts. Dr. Rick Newberry, President of Enrollment Catalyst, was hired to evaluate current practices and develop a plan to help grow Nouvel Catholic Central.
 
During the research portion of Dr. Newberry’s visit, we asked for your feedback. The high response rate is a clear sign of your commitment to and passion for Nouvel. During his time on site, Dr. Newberry spent more than 16 hours engaged with various members of our school community. We are grateful to the 30 parents and faculty members that participated in various focus groups. Additionally, parents and faculty members completed more than 340 surveys. The following is a summary of the feedback received, recommendations provided by Dr. Newberry and our plan to grow Nouvel Catholic Central. Listed below is a PowerPoint summary to expand on the findings.
 

• Parent Response – Overall, the respondents provided a strong representative sample of the Nouvel parent population including a distribution of children enrolled at all grade levels.
• Main Reasons Nouvel Selected – 83% of parents indicated that Catholic education is a primary reason why they enrolled their child at Nouvel. Class size (53%) and academic program (52%) were the other top choices. In addition, parents continue to place a great importance on character development, safety and security, and community.
• Power of Word of Mouth – 40% of parents responded that they first heard of Nouvel through word of mouth.
• Overall Satisfaction – Parent respondents rated satisfaction with the overall experience at Nouvel at a 4.35 on a 5-point scale. (Slide #9)
• Issues of Concern – The following issues of concern raised by the parents and the administrative team will be working to address these issues: Board and Strategic Vision, Cost, Diversity, Enrollment, Facilities, Fear of School Closing, Support from the Diocese and Faculty Turnover.

 
In addition, Dr. Newberry provided a complete assessment of the enrollment and marketing process as well as strategies and recommendations for growing the school. During the upcoming year, we will be working to implement impactful strategies based on his recommendations. Some of the primary initiatives include:
 

• Centralized Admissions & Marketing Office (Slides #12 & #13)
• Word of Mouth Marketing (Slide #14)
• Develop Friend Ambassador Network (FAN) Program (Slide #15)
• Web-Based Marketing (Slide #16)
• Variable Rate Tuition (Slide #17)

These initiatives, paired with parent support, will position Nouvel Catholic Central well for growth in inquiries and enrollment. Although this is a short synopsis of the Enrollment Catalyst findings, we will go over this in more detail at the Enrollment Catalyst update on Thursday, March 12 at 6 p.m. The presentation will be held at the Center for Ministry (5802 Weiss Street) in Conference Room A. There will be an opportunity for further discussion and questions after the presentation.