Annessa Staab

Manage all aspects of the lower school admission process, selection of students, and recruitment and retention of families to Latin’s Lower School (385 lower school students enrolled and approximately 250 applicants annually)

Application Process

• Educate prospective parents on the admission and financial aid procedures as well as the school’s academic programs and mission
• Schedule and conduct parent conferences and child assessments
• Review, analyze and present applicant files
• Created an assessment tool and scoring rubric for applicants aged 3-5 years old
• Coordinate and conduct observational visits at local childcare centers
• Maintained a Junior Kindergarten yield of 81% or higher over 5 years

Communication

• Collaborate with the Communicationsteam on marketing initiatives including admissions ads, school profile, branding initiatives, and applicant brochures.
• Serve as a school ambassador to identify, recruit and accept a diverse student population
• Liaise with senior administrators, Board of Trustees, faculty, community-based organizations and childcare directors

Retention and Recruitment

• Maintain and monitor current enrollment numbers and demographics
• Converse with current and prospective families to evaluate and maintain school satisfaction
• Work to meet the financial needs of families while maintaining the school financial stability

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

• Analyze student data, locate gaps, create and revise targeted enrollment goals, and generate the annual yield
• Enrolled 40-48% students of color per year over 5 years
• Organize community awareness and recruitment events for families of color
• Participant in Latin’s White Anti-Racism Affinity Group

Events

• Conduct 15 information sessions and tours and 2 large evening and weekend events for prospective parents annually
• Coordinate teacher, parent, and student volunteers to assist with open houses, play visits and yield events accommodating 25-200 guests
• Host local preschool directors at a This is Latin information session

Worked in partnership with the Director of Admissions to oversee all aspects of the admissions process, recruitment, student selection, new family onboarding and retention of Preschool to Grade 8 families (1,000 students enrolled and approximately 200 applicants annually)

Leadership

• Supervise and collaborate with Latin’s Lower School Readiness Assessor
• Educate 25 Latin parent ambassadors to lead tours for prospective parents
• Train and guide an admissions committee of ten through online file reading, anti-bias practices, and the student selection process
• Partner with the Parent Association to support new families transitioning to Latin
• Created and ran a 1-day interactive workshop for local admissions professionals to examine admissions processes and collaborate around consistency and best practices within the LMAIS consortium (2023).
• 1 of 6 selected to serve on Latin’s Digital Transformation Team to analyze the School’s Student Information Systems (2023)
• Presented at the 2020 Enrollment Management Association’s Annual Conference (Lower School Admissions: How the Process Can Work for the Youngest Applicants)
• Selected to serve on Latin’s Lower School Director search committee; reviewed applications, interviewed candidates at multiple stages and advised the Head of School in the final selection (2020).
• Coach 3-4 fitness classes weekly since 2021.

Community Engagement

• Maintain and foster relationships with local preschool and childcare centers
• Serve as a panelist at NPN parent organization events (The Preschool Application Process & Private School Admissions Panel)
• Private School Panelist representing Latin at local corporations (law and accounting firms)
• Work with vendors to coordinate and ensure successful receptions and events within an allotted budget (Latin, FXW and Lincoln Park Zoo)
• Responsible for empowering 80 board members to facilitate three annual fundraisers and generate over $250,000 annually for the Lincoln Park Zoo (2012-2014