By Anna Meusel
Staff Writer

Once every school year, the liturgical ensemble and singers are absent from mass as they travel on their annual Evangelization tour, an effort to recruit prospective students. This year, the group traveled to two high schools and three parishes in New Jersey for its nineteenth annual recruitment effort, said Jerome Monachino, the Director of Music Ministry.
The ensemble’s annual trip is one of the ways St. Michael’s differentiates itself from other small, private, liberal arts colleges at a time when enrollment is declining. “We are taking band amateurs on a professional tour,” Monachino said. “I have never seen any other college do anything like this.”
Sarah Kelly, Vice President for Enrollment, said that the college has been attempting to strategically shrink class size in order to keep competition high and create a more diverse demographic. The current freshman class came in below its target of 510 students. According to David Barrowclough, Assistant Dean and Registrar, the freshman class is comprised of 358 students.
In response to declining enrollment, the college has put forth a rebranding effort, Kelly said. The goal is to increase prospective student applications to the college, allowing the institution to choose acceptances from a larger pool, and for those students to enroll and create a larger incoming class.
“I am more encouraged than discouraged,” Kelly said. “We’re trying to turn it around.” In addition to recruitment efforts like the liturgical choir tour, Kelly said the rebranding effort includes other strategic efforts. She said this includes the SMC First Class program, which offers students who are admitted during early action the opportunity to take an online course in order to get a feel for being a student at the college. The SMC First Class program comes with access to Canvas, an official email address from the college, and student portal access.
“College is the only purchase in your life that you don’t get to try out before you buy it,” Kelly explained.
SMC First Class targets an opportunity for change in the recruitment process in the hopes that it will entice more students and bolster incoming class numbers again, Kelly said.
The ensemble contributes to the college’s Catholic identity, and their weekend is motivated by a desire to express the spirituality of the college and the sense of community that comes from that, Monachino said. The trip has a three-part goal of enhancing the community of the liturgical choir, showcasing their eclectic music ministry, and marketing the college to prospective students and alumni.
“Baseline, you know that you’re representing the college,” said Elly Moore ’19, a member of the ensemble. While she looks forward to the fun weekend, she said that the college does use its musical group for recruitment. Moore said the trip is a bonding opportunity with the other members of the ensemble.
Monachino expressed a similar appreciation for the community, which the ensemble builds by connecting with prospective, current, and past students. “I can’t emphasize enough how blessed and thankful I am,” he said. “There’s a real St. Mike’s sense there.”