Small Iowa Towns, A Leather Jacket, and Burritos - On the Road with Mallory

I hope everyone is having a relaxing Sunday.  It’s time to provide an update on the great travel experiences I have had over the past month.  This post will focus on my time with Mallory back in October.

Day One

In October I went with Mallory on the road two days in a row.  On the first day, Wednesday, October 16, there were two high school visits and a community college visit on the schedule.  When she invited me to come with her, Mallory had told me that we would be hurrying back and forth between our three visits.  We essentially would be passing through the same town three times during the course of the day.  I was up for the challenge, and she said it probably would be helpful for her to have me come with her anyway.  Mallory picked me up at 7:00 a.m. and after getting breakfast at McDonald’s, where I introduced her to the Cinnamon Melt, we were headed south into her territory – east central Iowa.

Our first visit was at North Cedar High School in Stanwood, Iowa, a small town along Highway 30.  I learned from Mallory that one should look for a flag pole to determine where the entrance to a school is located.  She also told me that she hoped we would not get skunked, which means that no students come to meet with us.  When we checked in at the office, we were told that we would be meeting with students in the choir room.  As we were setting up in the choir room, Mallory and I got a chance to meet the choir director and talk with him.  Melanie, a Wartburg music education graduate who teaches at the Wartburg College Band Camp every year, also stopped in to welcome fellow Wartburg people to the school.
 

Mallory and I ended up meeting with two students at North Cedar.  One of the boys Mallory had already met, and the other one was his friend.  Both of the them were interested in athletics at Wartburg.  She started out the visit by showing the two Iowa Private College Week (IPCW) videos that had been made this year and the year before – “Call Me Maybe” and “Cups.”  She used the videos to take the students on a virtual tour of campus by pointing out different aspects of campus and the people in it.  This reminded me of the anticipatory set portion of a lesson plan, during which teachers get their students interested in the material that will be discussed that day.  Mallory talked about the admissions process, financial aid, including Scholarship Days, and the aspects of Wartburg that make it special, like May Term and Wartburg West.  Her nickname could probably be the Energizer Bunny, as she is very enthusiastic and just keeps going and going and going…  I could tell the two boys were very interested in Wartburg, especially the one that Mallory had already met.  I actually saw him at the Scholarship Day last Sunday.  Before we left, Mallory made sure to update the information the school had on Wartburg.

Once we were done with the high school visit at North Cedar, Mallory and I hurried to the rental vehicle and headed west to Kirkwood in Cedar Rapids, which was about a thirty minute drive.  Natalie, another Admissions Counselor at Wartburg, handles transfer students, but the other counselors in the office were supposed to try and visit the community colleges in their territories if they got the chance.  While we were in the car, Mallory and I talked about how the visit went, reflecting upon what she does when meeting with students.  My high school only allowed Admissions Counselors to set up a table outside the lunchroom either before school or during lunch, so the concept of students leaving class to personally meet with someone like Mallory was new to me.  We also talked about Admissions work in general, including how she ended up in this career.

When Mallory and I finally made it to Kirkwood, we spend around five minutes trying to find a parking spot that was not too far away from the entrance to the school.  After driving around the parking lot multiple times, we eventually found a spot, grabbed the suitcase with our materials, and headed inside.  We met the lady who works in the academic advising office and had been the one communicating with Mallory about the visit.  She walked us over to Cedar Hall, which has a centralized location where students hang out between classes and we would be setting up our table.  I had never been to Kirkwood’s campus before, so this was another new experience for me.  Mallory showed me how she organizes the table during visits, and we waited for students to come over to talk with us.

During the forty minutes that we were at Kirkwood, we met with two students.  One was an Iraqi war veteran who was interested in studying social psychology.  Kirkwood had already promised him a job once he obtained his degree, so he was in the process of finding a college to transfer to for his bachelor’s degree.  He was already planning on continuing his studies at the graduate level.  Mallory talked to him about having an individualized major that combined both sociology and psychology.  He would be able to meet with professors in both academic areas to create a course plan that included classes that he would need to be accepted into a social psychology graduate program.

While Mallory talked with the war veteran, I met with an international student who was interested in many different areas of study, including business, pre-law, and environmental science.  He was really interested in studying abroad.  I talked with the student about Wartburg’s May Term and all the different places that Wartburg students have had the opportunity to travel to during that one month.  I was able to mention the experience I had in England and Wales this past May Term for Castles and Cathedrals, along with my friend Morgan’s trip to France, Dani’s semester in Costa Rica, and Christina’s time in Israel.

By the time we were able to leave Kirkwood, Mallory and I both knew that we would have to hurry to make our next appointment.  The last visit of the day was at Calamus-Wheatland High School in Wheatland, Iowa.  Wheatland is located east of Stanwood, which meant that we would be driving back the way we came from North Cedar High School.  During the drive to Calamus-Wheatland, Mallory and I talked about college fairs and what she would do the next time she was at Kirkwood.

Mallory and I learned at Calamus-Wheatland that sometimes the flag pole rule does not always work – the school had two flag poles.  We ended up meeting with one student – a boy who was interested in baseball and history.  Similar to the visit earlier that day, Mallory played the two IPCW videos and talked with him about the admissions process and financial aid.  I answered a couple questions he had about Wartburg, but I was sad when he was no interested in talking about being a history major.  Mallory and I agreed after the visit that he was very difficult to read.

On our way back to Waverly, after we passed through Stanwood for the third time that day, Mallory and I stopped at Noodles and Company in Cedar Rapids for lunch, which was my first time eating there.  The Wisconsin Mac and Cheese was great, especially since I added parmesan-crusted chicken.  Overall, it was a great day, and I gained firsthand travel experience.

Day Two

I went out on the road again with Mallory the following day – Thursday, October 17.  The second day traveling with Mallory was just as fun as the first one.  Since it ended up being Outfly that day and I was on Outfly Committee, I was up at 2:00 a.m. to help decorate the Student Center.  While I only had two and a half hours a sleep that night, I was alert and ready to leave for another days of visits when Mallory picked me up at 7:00 a.m.  We stopped at Kwik Star to get gas, coffee (I got French Vanilla cappuccino), and something to eat for breakfast before heading out on the road.

We only had two visits scheduled that day.  The first one was Monticello High School in Monticello, Iowa.  Mallory and I had about ten minutes to set up in the back of the office, which the guidance counselor had decorated with everything from a cat rug to bean bag chairs that students could borrow during homeroom time.  We met with one student, who was interested (if I remember correctly) biology, specifically pre-physical therapy.  The visit was very similar to the ones we had done the previous day.  I did get to talk to the student about Outfly and the fun associated with it.

After our time in Monticello, Mallory and I headed to Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) in Peosta, Iowa, which is located just west of Dubuque.  We were scheduled to be there at our table, which was located in the area where the students eat lunch and hang out between classes, for two hours.  We talked to a couple students while we were at NICC, but Mallory and I agreed that if she were to come back, she should only be there between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.  It was during that hour that most of the students came in to eat.  While we were sitting at the table, Mallory and I continued our ongoing conversation on our lives and student affairs.

On our way back to Waverly, Mallory and I stopped at the Shopko in Dyersville so she could get a leather jacket that she had wanted to get for some time.  We also grabbed burritos for lunch at Pancheros in Waterloo, which was another place I had never eaten at before.  I was very tired by the time we arrived back at Wartburg, and I remember taking a three hour nap that evening.  In the end, I appreciated the chance to go out again on the road with Mallory. 

Reflection

Throughout my time on the road with Mallory those two days, I learned more about what it is like to travel to different high schools and community colleges and meet with students interested in Wartburg.  Mallory really loves what she does, so it was a great experience getting to tag along with her.  I also developed skills that relate to the Wartburg Teacher Education Model.

One skill that was repeatedly utilized during our high school and community college visits is Communication.  While we were meeting with students, Mallory and I had to answer their questions and articulate why Wartburg would be a great place for them to continue their education.  This communication took a couple different forms – verbal, nonverbal, and written.  We talked with several students during our travels those two days, and we needed to have strong verbal communication skills in order to connect with the students.  The way we presented ourselves, including how interested we were in meeting with the students and being at their school, was also very important.  Finally, we gave the students we met with various pieces of information about Wartburg, like viewbooks, brochures, and packets.  We needed to connect the information we were presenting to the student with what we were giving them to take home, as most of what we discussed with them was found in our materials.

This travel experience further exposed me to working with Diverse Learners.  Mallory and I met with a range of students, from those in their senior year of high school to someone working to obtain an associate’s degree at a community college after being in the military.  Talking with the Iraqi war veteran about the opportunities for him at Wartburg once he is done at Kirkwood was a unique experience for both Mallory and I.  He is in a different stage of his life compared to most of the students at Wartburg.  I also had the chance to connect with an international student, who brings different experiences/situations to the conversation.  Ultimately, all the students are the same in regards to wanting to earn a bachelor’s degree.  However, one needs to understand how working with a high school senior will be different than a transfer student, especially if he/she is from another country or was in the military.

Reflection and Professional Development is another section of the Wartburg Teacher Education Knowledge Base that I focused on during my time with Mallory.  While we were driving to the different visits and during our time at NICC, we talked a lot about the students we met with and the techniques that Mallory utilizes, like using the IPCW videos to introduce students to Wartburg.  We discussed what led her down this career path and why I am considering entering into the field of student affairs.  By the end of the second day, I realized how much I had learned while I was with Mallory.

The final competency that could be applied to this experience is Collaboration, Ethics, and Relationships.  I worked directly with Mallory on the visits, answering students’ questions and providing a positive image of Wartburg to everyone we met with during those two days.  I was able to give a current student prospective to the students and tell them about my personal experiences when discussing opportunities open to them at Wartburg.  I was building a professional relationship with the students I met with, along with Mallory through our conversations and time on the road together.

I know this is a REALLY long post, but it is just one of the several experiences I have had with traveling for the Admissions Office over the past month.  Be watching this blog for more posts about my travel!