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Student recruitment continues to be an ongoing challenge for universities in the Maritimes. The University has asked the Alumni Board to make student recruitment one of our top priorities.

The Board’s Student Recruitment Sub-committee is piloting a new project in partnership with the ¯r¶¹TVÊÓƵ Office. The aim of the Mount Allison Network of Teachers for Recruitment and ¯r¶¹TVÊÓƵ (MANTRA) is to have alumni who are retired teachers assist in identifying prospective students in their home communities.

MANTRA will be limited to the Maritimes while we pilot the program. The goal is to increase the number of incoming students from Maritime high schools by increasing the visibility of Mount Allison within the schools.

Alumni volunteers will attend new student send-off events and recruitment events in their region, contact parents of prospective students to introduce themselves and answer questions, assist our recruiters on the road, work with guidance counsellors as representatives of Mount A, attend graduation ceremonies in their region, and present MtA scholarships.

The first MANTRA volunteers received training in Sackville in September and we spent time together rediscovering our campus, enjoying lively student events, touring residences, and reacquainting ourselves with the campus and all that has changed since we left. The MANTRA volunteers met with many University administrators to receive the latest information on how to apply to Mount A, financial aid, recruitment marketing strategies, residence life, etc. It was just like Orientation Week all over again — minus the walk through the Swan Pond.

Thank you so much to our first MANTRA group, of which I am so proud to be a part. We are so happy to have you on board helping to spread the word about Mount Allison and everything it has to offer.

Meg Pryde ('74)
Alumni Board