One year and counting!

Wow!  A year ago from now Jonathan Littleford visited our school to help us start a Parent Ambassador program to boost our recruiting efforts.  Here we are just one year later, and it is amazing to see how our work is paying off.

Since his visit last fall, we have held three Open Houses.  Attendance at these Open Houses has steadily increased each time, and we had record attendance at the most recent one on November 12, with 16 prospective families, some with multiple children.  They filled out family information cards upon arrival, and we asked them how they heard about the Open House.  They said – “Yard Sign”, “Facebook”, “Web Site”, and “Word of Mouth”.  I am so thankful to all of our parents who put up a yard sign, hung a poster, “shared” the Open House event on Facebook, or just talked to their friends and neighbors about EDS and encouraged them to come take a tour.

Here are a few photos of our STAR (Student Team Admission Recruiter) Students welcoming prospective parents to the Open House. They did a fantastic job representing EDS and guiding the campus tours.

We also had 29 prospective families with 38 children attend our Fall Festival as a “VIP” guest.  By comparison, we only had three prospective families attend in 2011.  What a huge difference!  The Fall Festival is a great, no-pressure way for prospective families to see our campus and meet some current EDS families.

Last weekend, Middle School parents Cammie Jones and Melissa Cearley hosted a Middle School Information Night at the Cearley’s home for Lake Forest Hills families interested in learning about our wonderful Middle School.  We had both 4th and 5th grade families attend, and they all seemed eager to learn about all we have to offer.  The following day, we had 3 of those Lake Forest Hills students spend the day at EDS shadowing some of our current 5th grade students.  We are thrilled to continue building relationships with Lake Forest Hills families hoping they will come to our Middle School.

As the Chair of the Admissions Ambassador Committee, I appreciate everything all of our parents are doing to promote our school, especially the work of the 60 Parent Ambassadors on my committee.  They all have worked hard giving campus tours, hosting recruiting events in their homes, and spreading the good news about EDS.  I am often overwhelmed by the amazing things our parents say about their family’s EDS experience.  It is so encouraging to hear Parent Ambassadors speak from their hearts, and I know the prospective families can see how passionate these Ambassadors are about EDS.

All parents are ambassadors for EDS!  Our success in this program is evident in these numbers, and we all need to keep working.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share the good news about EDS and meet so many interesting and wonderful prospective families in the process.  I encourage you to join our efforts and keep the momentum going!

Thank you.

Amelia McDougal
Admissions Ambassador Chair