Advocacy in New and Strange Times

March 22, 2020
By: Anne K.W. Richardson
The American School in London

I was going to write about NACAC's Advocacy Day.

Two weeks ago, this is what advocacy looked like for me. I was spending my Sunday in Washington DC with college admissions counselors and college/university counselors from across the world, preparing to go to Capitol Hill on Monday to meet with House and Senate members and their aides, to remind them about the importance of international students in higher education – the many and extraordinary benefits they bring to campuses, classrooms, residence halls, surrounding towns and cities.  In cold hard cash, international students inject over $50 billion each year to US states. But they do so much more – and I include here all of our students who have grown up abroad.  Their presence contributes to and expands the cultural competency and global outlook of all, really so much more valuable and lasting than all of those dollars.  In our many visits on Monday, crisscrossing the Capitol, from Dirksen to Longworth, many listened - some more attentively and closely than others - to this strong advocacy for international students.

Association Annual Award Winners: In Their Words

Last Spring the International ACAC board placed their votes for three awards that honor leaders in our field. These include the Distinguished Service Award, the Rising Star Award, and the Peter Hauet Lifetime Achievement Award. This year the awards went to some inspiring individuals who have made big contributions to International ACAC over the years.

Jenny Tassell and Christine Grover were selected for the International ACAC Rising Star Award for their service to their students and our community, especially due to their tireless work in organizing the recent International ACAC Regional Institute in Panama City.

Jenny writes, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this great honor.  There is really no other association like International ACAC.  I have been lucky enough to have some amazing mentors who have encouraged me to keep pushing myself towards goals that have seemed too challenging at times.  Fred Johnson, Juan Camilo Tamayo, Ray Marx, Meg Mahoney, Christine Grover, and Jolynn Vallejo to name a few.  Everyone in this association wants its members to become more involved and they will encourage you every step of the way. 

In Panama it all started with helping to create the Panama School Counselor Association (PASCA).  With the amazing counselors in Panama we worked hard to help Panama become a place that was easy to navigate and welcoming to all university reps that came here.  We created the PASCA website which has become a model for other countries. 

Calling all members with an interest in UK Advocacy

A UK All Party Parliamentary Group is currently conducting an inquiry into international students in the UK. Details of the inquiry:  

http://www.exeduk.com/appg-for-international-students/inquiry

The Advocacy and Outreach Committee are keen to submit a written response to this by the deadline of 3^rd September.

The focus of the response will be from high school and independent counsellors as our UK HE members views will be represented by UUK. We will however work with UUK to ensure our responses are coordinated as much as possible. In order to capture the views of high school and independent counsellors AOC have developed a brief survey for high school and independent members:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/BPMQ2LT

East Asia Regional Institute Fast-Facts Update:

Registrations, fairs, curriculum, grants, networking and additional events (as of June 10^th), basic information and practicalities

Registrations

• Over 100 now! Including…
• 55% who represent high school students
• 75 institutions, made up of high schools, universities, organizations
• Universities from 14 countries
• Counselors from Republic of Korea, The People’s Republic of China, India, Vietnam, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Nepal
• Hurry registration deadline is July 20^th - - but past institute data indicates we will reach capacity before that time
      REGISTER FOR EARI

Fairs

The East Asia Regional Institute Fair takes place on Saturday August 12^th

Second Annual Vancouver International Universities Fair

By Tatjana Guadalupe 
NACAC International Initiatives Coordinator

The Vancouver International Universities Fair (VIUF) will be held this coming April 30 at the Vancouver Convention Centre-East from 1pm-4pm (PDT). Registration for exhibitors and students is now open through the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) Fairs website.

Putting Your Mask on First

By Kelly Braun
International School of Sacred Heart, Tokyo

We’ve all heard the announcement. It comes after learning how to fasten our seatbelts for the millionth time, just before we’re told where our floatation devices are located beneath our seats:

“Oxygen masks will drop down from above your seat. Place the mask over your mouth and nose, like this. Pull the strap to tighten it. If you are traveling with children, make sure that your own mask is on first before helping your children.”

Booking a visit made easy? Repvisits.com review

By Robbie Jefferis
United World College South East Asia, Singapore

You can book an uber online, buy your groceries online, schedule your dentist appointment online….  So why not schedule your school visits online?   A new tool is attracting interest with busy college counselors and even busier admissions representatives, called www.repvisits.com   

Could this be the end of all the back and forth emails?  

Behind The Scenes of The International Universities Fair Vancouver

By Beth Cleary
    NACAC, International Initiatives Coordinator

The National Association for College Admission Counseling and International ACAC are co-hosting the first International Universities Fair in Vancouver on May 7, 2016.

Chaired by Nancy Cromarty, director of university and career counseling at West Point Grey Academy in Vancouver, the fair preparations are off to a great start. “Interest and excitement about this first time event has already begun among parents, students and counselors here in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver,” says Cromarty.

Giving & Receiving - Top Gifts from the Global Road

By Samantha Deleon
    The University of Illinois at Chicago

Survey Says!! : What's the BEST gift you received from a university representative or high school counselor ?  Whats the best memento you have ever shared with a friend or family member after a trip ? 

Thinking about giving and receiving at this time of year we thought we'd look at some of the best gifts the university reps have received from counselors, and some of the ways university reps are giving back upon their return home...

Intro to NACAC's Vancouver International Universities Fair

An interview with Nancy L. Cromarty 

Colleges: mark your calendars for next May - NACAC is going International

Next spring the NACAC will host the first stand alone College Fair outside the United States.  The Vancouver International Universities Fair is scheduled for Saturday, May 7, 2016.

Whenever NACAC runs a National College Fair in the United States, the regional affiliate serves as a local organizing committee, and supports NACAC in the promotion and planning of the event.  Since Vanoucver, Canada is 'international' Overseas ACAC has the privilege of supporting this event. Recently, OACAC.com talked with Nancy Cromarty, Chair of the Organizing Committee and Director of University & Career Counseling at West Point Grey Academy in Vancouver, about this exciting new initiative and what participants can expect. 

Going Global and Breaking Stereotypes

By Alison Herget 
Senior Assistant Director of Admissions, Brandeis University

It was my umpteenth week of international recruitment travel this fall, and I happened to be in Mumbai, India  – not the easiest place to be amid a 5-week trip that started in southeast Asia and traversed half the globe. It was some ungodly hour of the evening and I was straight off a four-hour van ride from Pune with my colleague in which we were cut off by emaciated cows, hassled by street vendors selling cheap toys, and had tapped a vehicle that stopped short in front of us when the driver misjudged the size of a small boulder on the dirt road. Fun? Yes. Relaxing? Absolutely not.

To say that I was happy to see a smiling face and have a young, friendly bellhop to carry my luggage up to the room upon arrival at our hotel is an understatement.

On The Assembly Floor at NACAC

By Ray Marx
HS Counselor - Colegio Americano de Quito, Ecuador

Saturday, September 21^st marked the first time the NACAC Assembly was ever held outside of the United States.  Who could have predicted when NACAC chose Toronto as the site for the 2013 National Conference over five years ago, that the Assembly narrative would focus on international students and per-head compensation for global agents. 

The Zen of International Admissions

By Alison Herget
Senior Assistant Director of Admissions - Brandeis University - Waltham, MA
 

International recruitment certainly has its share of complexities and curve balls. I'll be the first to admit I had my fairshare last year during my first international recruitment trip last year as an admissions officer at Brandeis. After three weeks in Asia, I returned -- jet-lagged for weeks and with enough crazy stories to write a book. When I told my friend about how I hailed a cab amid an 8-lane busy road in Beijing then almost felt like I was going to die in the hands of a sleepy cab driver who transported us to the airport, she thought I was crazy to want to do what I do for a living. "That sounds so...exhausting," she said.