Leadership interview with Jennifer Gray, Villanova College

So here at Villanova College, I'm the Director of Admissions, and it's a job I absolutely love. Probably my three most favourite things are getting a chance to meet all of our prospective students and families as they start to learn about Villanova College, having the opportunity to introduce them to our beautiful school and campus, and also getting a chance to work with the wonderful students we have here on campus. In terms of our student ambassadors who helped me introduce families to the school.

So I have about 150 students who work alongside me as student ambassadors, and they are students who are in our high school program, who volunteer their time to tour prospective families. They are students who are very excited and engaged here at the school and are so eager to show our visitors life at Villanova College. So when our families come in for an open house, they have the opportunity to meet with students, and engage with them in conversation as they tour our beautiful school and campus.

I'm very involved in school life here at the school. The admissions office is located on the second floor, so we're in the hub of the action, if you will. So I have a chance to see the students as they enter the building in the morning, as they change classes throughout the day. I also see them when I'm touring families, visiting classrooms, perhaps having lunch in the cafeteria, or even heading out on the sports field at the end of the day or over to the gymnasium to watch a game. So it is wonderful to work in a school environment where you really can be engaging with the students both inside and outside the classroom.

When I first arrived at Villanova College, I was very much drawn to the school community. The warmth of our students and our faculty is truly exceptional. I felt welcome right from the first moment I arrived here, and I think our community, the students, staff, and parents are very special here at the school. They are special because they really believe in our school and the program that we offer, students are engaged in the learning. They come to school each and every day excited about learning here at Villanova, and I love how they fully participate in all areas of school life.

So, certainly, academics are first and foremost here at Villanova College, but we offer a breadth of extracurricular opportunities for our students. So whether it be a passion for athletics, the arts service, or leadership, our students have those wonderful opportunities to engage in those activities. Most of them do take place after school. So again, when the school day ends, you'll see most of our students transitioning to one of those clubs or activities or sports teams to again fully participate in all areas of school life here at Villanova College.

Something that's unique to Villanova College is that we are the York region's only Catholic independent school. So that certainly does make us unique families who are looking for an independent Catholic education. We are the school for them. In the York region area, we are a co ed school offering Catholic education to boys and girls, grades four through to grade twelve.

So Villanova College is a Catholic Augustinian school. However, we do serve students of all faiths here at the school. We are guided by Augustinian values. And those values mean truth, unity, and love. And throughout the school day, you can see our students participating in religion classes. On Wednesday morning, we have our full school assembly and prayers. We also meet once a month for a full school math. So there's many ways for our students to see that Catholic education is brought into their day to day learning. Like I said, however, we are very open to students of all faith being here at the school. Should they and their families be comfortable with the Catholic education that we offer? And how does that work?

So, like I said, we have lots of students who aren't Catholic here on campus, and our campus ministry works closely to welcome those students in the fall as they join us on campus to talk to them about what Catholicism looks like, what they can expect both inside and outside the classroom, at Mass and at other full school events where they may be participating for the very first time. We want to see that each and every student feels comfortable and therefore has an opportunity to learn and see what a Catholic education is going to be like. And there again, what they can expect.

We often start our school day and close our school day with a school prayer, and again, students will discover their own unique ways to participate. But definitely our Catholic values are embedded in all that we do here at Illinois College. So often, families who aren't Catholic who choose us, choose us because of our values. So there again, they know that we have a strong, rooted educational program, one that is really going to support their child and help them achieve their academic as well as co curricular goals. And therefore, they see their family values aligning very much with our school values and therefore choose Villanova College for their child or for their children.

I think we have many different types of students who thrive here at Villanova College. We are a university academic day school, so we are preparing students for post secondary. Having said that, we have students who may learn differently, and we do have a guided learning centre that will support them through our admissions process. We learn a lot about the student and the family, and we have that admissions process in place to ultimately ensure that the student is going to thrive and be successful here in our program.

Certainly so we look at the whole child when looking at a candidate to enter our program, there are a variety of different ways that we review a candidate's file and their preparedness for our program. We look at their past few years worth of report cards, both grades and comments, as well as those learning skills. We look closely at their attendance and their participation in activities both inside and outside the school. We also invite them in for an interview where we have a chance to get to know them and chat to them, to learn a little bit more about their areas of passion, and we also have them complete an assessment for us. So all of those tools in combination are what the admissions committee at Villanova uses to make our decisions for students to enter our program.

Certainly I think the wonderful thing when you are in education is seeing children grow and develop within the school community. So some fond memories for me would be seeing perhaps a Shire, quieter students joining our program, feeling quite nervous, perhaps even intimidating about making a move, coming to a new school, making new friends. And then very quickly you see that students start to integrate in the program, start to thrive, their smiles become bigger. You start to see them actively participating in all areas of school life. You may be at an assembly and you see them speaking in front of the whole school, or singing in the choir at Mass, or taking the lead on the basketball court.

Those are the types of things I love to see, that personal growth, where ultimately, you know, the child has found the right place and the fit is good. Here they are thriving, they are developing, they are growing into their own unique person.

There are many students that have that story, but one in particular, I can think about a student again, who was quite nervous to make the move to Villanova. She was coming into a higher high school grade, so she was making the move in grade eleven, again feeling quite nervous about leaving friends, moving throughout her years of high school, but again came in very successfully, joined many clubs and activities. So she was quickly integrated, and again, I would watch and see her grow and develop throughout the school year. She became one of our ambassadors, so confidently giving tours and talking to families about her experience, and then is now a student in our leadership class. So really thriving and again taking full advantage of our program here at Villanova.

So we are an independent school for students, grades four through to twelve. So grade four is our first entry point, and we grow each year by adding new students to the cohorts. So our main entry years would be grade four, grade seven, and grade nine. Having said that, however, there are limited spaces in other grades as well for new students to join the school. So again, each family will decide to apply when they feel the time is right. In some cases, there are some natural transition times, finishing out grade six, perhaps, at their current school, and then joining us for grade seven, or finishing grade eight, and then joining us for high school would be some common times that families would look to us, but there's never not a year where we aren't gladly accepting new students. Some years, the admission numbers are more limited than others. But like I said, the main entry years would be grade four, grade seven, and grade nine.

The great thing is we have many different types of families here at Villanova College. However, I would say a common thread that links many of our families is their desire to see that their child is thriving in our education. So, again, they are families who are committed to education, in many cases, sometimes sacrificing other things to see that our child has the opportunity to be here at Villanova College. But families who really prioritize education and want to see that their child is here with us, thriving and growing so that he or she can be the absolute best person that they can be. And education, I think, is a wonderful gift to be able to give to your child.

If Villanova was a person, I would say they would be community-minded, focused, and dedicated to academic excellence. In addition, they would have a wide breadth of co-curricular interests, a student who was dedicated to serving and helping others, and a student who was keen to become a leader and be involved in service work.

Advice I would offer to parents is, really, do your research, take the opportunity to get on campus, visit as many schools as possible, and really make a point of talking to staff members and students, and most importantly, the admissions office to learn as much as you can about the school. There are many wonderful schools available to all families, but it is about really finding the right fit for your child. And so, therefore, explore as many opportunities as you possibly can, do your research, and be sure to bring your child along for that journey to see that he or she feels apart, and they, too, can get excited about joining their new school community.

At Villanova College, students are part of a student centred, teacher directed community of learners where our students are engaged in learning skills necessary to really be independent. Critical thinkers are the active global citizens as well as leaders. For tomorrow at Villanova, we promise each and every student a superior education that is rooted in the Catholic tradition of academic excellence. We are a non semester program where students can receive personal attention that they deserve and really have the whole year to hone in on their academic and study skills. A real emphasis is put on our core academic subjects, but we also enrich our program by offering both the StEM and the Advanced Placement program. 

We offer a large breadth of extracurricular programs such as arts, athletics, leadership and social outreach. And we have a very supportive and caring and dedicated faculty who really pour their hearts and souls into everything for our students here on campus. And ultimately, we want to see that our students leave here with a strong foundation of success to prepare them for university and life beyond.