08189
March 11, 2008
Forging ahead
Menaul School striving to build enrollment, increase fundraising
ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Boosting enrollment and raising additional funds are two essential components of how the Menaul School will continue to build itself up in the years ahead, school leadership said.
“Those are vital to our future as a school that can fulfill its mission to be open to a broad community,” said Menaul President Lindsey R. Gilbert. “It all has to come together.”
Right now Menaul has about 170 students in grades six through 12, and Gilbert said the college-preparatory day school has “a good shot” at reaching an enrollment of 200 next school year.
Eventually, in four or five years, the hope is that Menaul’s student population will be at 300, which will be capacity, he said.
“There is a real sense of forward thinking,” said Gilbert, who became Menaul’s 13th president in 2006. “We are working every day for another 100 years.”
Founded by Presbyterians in the late 1800s, Menaul operated for many years here as a boarding school serving Native American and Hispanic youngsters. Students predominately from Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado came to this campus over the years, making Menaul their second home.
Like many private institutions the school has had its share of challenges, and in May 2000 with only a few resident students the school closed its boarding program. In 2005 the school also sold 17.5 acres of land next to its main campus to pay off debts.
Today, Gilbert and others contend the school is on much better footing financially and is poised for the future, while also remaining true to its historic mission.
“For the past four years we’ve gone from a deficit of $600,000 to a deficit of about $65,000,” which was in the 2006-’07 school year, said Conrad Rocha, a member of Menaul’s Board of Trustees and the school’s former chief administrative officer and chief financial officer.
“The next several years are still going to be difficult ones,” but he said at the same time “I really do believe in the future of the school.”
“I have a great deal of faith and confidence in the leadership that Lindsey brings to the school,” said Rocha, a member of the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Gilbert said the challenges are creating a positive image of the school and marketing it “as a unique college-preparatory school” serving students who may not normally get that kind of education. Coupled with that is the fact that the education is being offered “within a Christian framework.”
“We’ve got workers all over the place fixing things and getting the campus in place,” he said. “We’re building the campus, doing lots of little things to market the school.”
Julie Weaks Gutierrez, chair of Menaul’s Board of Trustees, said the school’s “marketing plan calls for a multi-pronged approach.”
One of the things is simply publicity: “tying to get the school’s name in newspapers and in publications and out in front of people,” she said. Advertising about Menaul’s summer sessions and about applications for the fall session also is taking place, Gutierrez said.
And, when possible, information is going out to parents of fifth and eighth grade students at other private schools, she said. “We’re trying to get the word out to that community that we’re here.”
Historically, at least 50 percent of Menaul’s students have been on scholarship, and Gutierrez said the school wants to continue to appeal to students who might need financial assistance as well.
“We look to not just the self-pay community, but we are looking to the community that Menaul has served in the past,” she said. “That’s were fundraising comes in.”
Gutierrez said Menaul is tapping its “large alumni base” and building on its Presbyterian connectionalism for fundraising. The school already receives funds from the PC(USA) through the denomination’s Christmas Joy Offering, which helps support racial-ethnic schools and colleges.
“One of the things we are trying to concentrate on is reconnecting with the alumni,” she said. “Also the larger Presbyterian community.”
The school has “progressive” fundraising goals: to increase fundraising by $100,000 this year, and then by $100,000 every year after that for at least five years, Gutierrez said. “And, in the much longer term, raising an endowment for the school.”
The school also is in the midst of a capital campaign to raise about $1 million over the next two to three years to restore the campus’ central building, Donaldson Hall, which includes administrative offices and an auditorium.
“I think we’ve begun on the path,” Gutierrez said.
Gilbert agrees. “There’s no looking back,” he said.
“We felt just blessed to be here for the first 100 years doing God’s work, and look forward to another 100 years making a difference in the community.”
To contact the Menaul School, call (505) 345-7727, or visit their Web site. |
