On the Edge
Your Catholic School Guide to Student Recruitment and Retention
by
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The Vibe
We recently opened a small café on campus. Before that, there was no food service at St. Genevieve High School, unless you count the catering truck that would appear twice each day attempting to meet our students’ nutritional requirements. Students would often still be standing in line waiting to be served when the bell rang at the end of the break or lunch period, because they knew that once the truck left, there was nowhere else on campus to buy food, and they’re never allowed to leave campus to satisfy a taco or burger craving (or for any other reason!) during school hours.
But even without offering adequate food service, we found that our enrollment was still on the rise. Apparently, it wasn’t the food (or lack thereof) that attracted families to a particular school. In fact, we were able to reach our target enrollment before our café ever opened. Now that we do have a popular café, it’s simply a bonus — some icing on the cake! — during our recruitment drives.
This year, we added a small, very modern lounge outside the café’s serving area. We hired a graffiti artist to paint the walls, and in addition to your typical tables and chairs, we included outdoor lounge furniture for more casual dining. There are also two large flat-screen TVs. Students now congregate here before and after school to socialize and also to work together on class assignments.
The café is named The Vibe. Students suggested a variety of names, but The Vibe really summed up the energy you feel when you walk onto our campus.
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About the Book
Are you part of a Catholic school community that is experiencing enrollment issues? Does your school have difficulty recruiting and retaining new students? St. Genevieve High School in Panorama City, California, was facing just such a harsh reality: its reputation was shot and enrollment was waning.
By deciding to bring the school back from the edge and work toward achieving an “Ideal Catholic School Community,” St. Genevieve is now one of the great success stories in contemporary Catholic education. On the Edge relates that story, directly offering up the voices of faculty and staff —and their diverse perspectives—while providing an engaging and straight-talking narrative by the principal who led this stunning transformation.
About the Author
Inspired by the Benedictine Sisters, who provided a stimulating elementary school experience at Sacred Heart School in Jeannette, Pennsylvania, Dan Horn knew by the second grade that he wanted to teach. Realizing his dream, Dan taught in both public and Catholic schools on the East Coast and then moved to California, where he earned his master’s degree in administration from the University of San Francisco.
While continuing to work as a teacher and administrator, Dan has been instrumental in transforming two failing Los Angeles-area Catholic schools into national models of success.
Under his leadership as principal, St. Thomas the Apostle School was named a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. The award was especially cherished by this innercity parish community since it led to a successful effort to have the Blue Ribbon Schools award program reinstated after the U.S. Congress had abruptly voted to cut the program’s funding.
St. Genevieve High School, where Horn is currently principal, has been named a National School of Character. The entire St. Genevieve faculty and staff traveled to Washington, DC to accept the award from the Character Education Partnership.