By Mia Fatuzzo ’15, News Section Editor
This year, Cincinnati Country Day School, with 835 students spanning ages 18 months to 18 years, welcomes its largest incoming class in nearly 10 years. These students come to Country Day from 41 different zip codes, from states such as Massachusetts and Georgia, and from countries as diverse and faraway as Egypt, Panama, and China. New students, 120 of them to be exact, make up nearly 15% of the student body, and, according to Director of Admissions Mr. Aaron Kellenberger, that number could grow to be even larger before the end of the year.
That Country Day’s population is showing such strong growth is due in large part to several key steps taken by the Admissions Office. A few years ago, Country Day began to make a push within the community for an “enrollment and engagement initiative.” In other words, Country Day reached out to its families, encouraging them to recommend the school to their friends and family. Country Day has also altered the way in which it offers monetary aid to its prospective students. Several years ago, the school switched from offering its admitted students only a financial aid option to offering them both financial and merit based aid. This has in turn allowed for the attraction of more students.
Finally, Country
Day’s purposeful and effective advertising has played a large role in their success in recruitment and admissions. According to Mr. Kellenberger, Country Day worked hard to develop a message that truly described them before starting an advertising campaign. After finding that message, the “My Day” campaign was launched, and everything from posters to magazine spreads were created. The campaign is unique from many other private schools’ efforts in that its advertisements are distinguishable and uniform, yet they allow prospective attendees (and their parents) to get a feel for the school from a student, or a teacher, or even an administrator’s perspective. The enrollment initiative, merit based scholarship, and focused advertising campaigns have helped Country Day to grow and thrive.
