The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges to all aspects of Mercy school life, including our ministries’ admissions processes. So much of admissions work depends on relationship-building through events and school traditions: open houses, family picnics, shadow days for prospective students, entrance exams and more. Mercy admissions personnel have been working creatively through this difficult time to make connections with prospective families, highlight the educational excellence of their schools and communicate clearly about the many uncertainties our schools are facing. We are grateful to members of the MESA admissions cohort and administrators from our schools in Belize, Jamaica and the Philippines for their contributions to this article.

Making Connections with Prospective Students

In terms of making connections with prospective students, many of our schools offer a variety of ways to engage online: virtual tours, online entrance exams, blast messages on text and WhatsApp and live Q&A sessions on social media. Gwynedd-Mercy Academy Elementary (Spring House, Pennsylvania) published a newsletter filled with activity suggestions for pre-K students that was widely shared in Facebook groups for local parents, and Mercy McAuley High School (Cincinnati, Ohio) has hosted virtual game nights led by student ambassadors. Mount de Sales Academy (Macon, Georgia) has been reaching out to prospective families through weekly e-newsletters with ideas about staying active, keeping up with studies, enhancing family time and serving the community.

Building Community among New Students

Mercy hospitality is a value much respected at our schools, and this includes making incoming students feel welcome and at home. Many of our schools are instituting mentoring or big sister/little sister programs so that new students can connect one-on-one with more experienced classmates before the new academic year begins. Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women (Rochester, New York) is hosting monthly virtual meetings by grade level, including pajama bingo. At Mount St. Mary Catholic High School (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), members of the cheer squad are hosting online demonstrations for new students who want to try out for the team.

For some schools, virtual means of communication have helped to update formerly time-intensive processes. Convent of Mercy Academy – Alpha (Kingston, Jamaica) reported that they were able to register new students online this year, eliminating a long task of data entry for all 240 new students. Principal Kali McMorris said that this “allowed us to start communicating with them the day after registration. We are excited about our increased ability to reach our families – one of the pluses of our COVID experience!”

Safety for In-Person Registration

For Holy Cross High School (Mindanao, Philippines), registration must be done in-person due to families’ limited access to technology. Sister Virgencita Alegado, directress, outlined the steps that parents must take when entering the school including temperature checks and the use of hand sanitizer and disinfecting foot baths. The school has a strict “no mask, no entry” policy, and parents have been very cooperative.

Why Mercy?

For many of our schools, virtual learning may continue to be part of their reality for the 2020-2021 academic year. Members of the MESA admissions cohort shared that they are emphasizing their robust online learning environments to prospective families, and many schools can say with pride that students did not miss a single day of instruction during the pandemic. Schools are also sharing testimonials from students and parents on social media and in advertisements. Muffles College High School (Orange Walk Town, Belize) reported that in addition to outreach on Facebook, they are surveying parents about the holistic needs of students, including laptops and face shields.