Setting students on the right path
Admissions coordinator uses the personal touch to recruit minorities
Madai Rivera sees herself in the students she helps bring to Kansas State University.
"I am the student I want to recruit," Rivera says of her background: A girl in Juarez, Mexico, at 12 she found herself uprooted and transplanted to Dodge City. She and her family adapted to a new country and a new language, but the notion of college, particularly in far-off Manhattan, remained foreign.
Rivera came to K-State because K-State came to her in the form of Niza DiCarlo, a scholarship coordinator who conducted a bilingual session at Dodge City High School.
"I know how big a difference that made to me, to see in front of me this Hispanic woman speaking about going to college," Rivera said. Once at K-State, Rivera earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education and a master's in curriculum and instruction, with a stint in between teaching Spanish at several Manhattan schools. She joined K-State in 2007.
Reassuring families of underrepresented students that higher education is a possibility keeps Rivera on the go and on the phone as an admissions coordinator for Hispanic recruitment. She is based in the College of Human Ecology.
"When I go to a high school, I always give kids my cell phone number," she said. After a presentation, "I'll get calls immediately: 'Can you meet at the public library? Can you meet with my parents?' " Her answer is always "Yes." That leads to home visits and more phone calls.
"If you really want to connect with these students, you have to go the extra mile," she said. "Once we get that communication going, I can say, 'Hey, you might want to come see this place we've been talking about.'"
She encourages students to visit K-State during the spring Open House or the recent Multicultural Pride Day, which Rivera coordinated. That event, based in the Student Union, allows high school students to explore K-State's colleges and student groups, which go all out to inform visitors as well as entertain them. This year's version broke attendance records, attracting 200 high school students and about 20 counselors and teachers, Rivera said.
"The Union ballroom was so packed that we had to request additional chairs," she said. "The energy in that room was amazing." With many K-State faculty members, staff and students on hand to welcome the high school groups, the head count topped 300.
Even when high school seniors opt for the immediate paycheck of a meatpacking job instead of K-State, Rivera encourages them to enroll in community college.
"I want to bring them all," she said, "but I understand that it's not always feasible."
If a student can attend K-State, Rivera's job is only half done.
"Once they're here, you don't just forget about them," she said. She and others on campus build a support network consisting of faculty mentors, extracurricular activities and groups like the Hispanic American Leadership Organization.
The daughter of Carlos and Cecilia Rivera, Madai Rivera is the first in her family to attend college. But she is by no means the last. Brother Carlos Rivera is a senior in sociology.
Rivera's reward comes every time she sees one of "her" students on campus, particularly on the first day of this fall semester.
"It was just such a great day," she said. One freshman after another would stop by her office.
"They'd say, 'Hi, I'm about to go to class.' But they're checking in, to see if that person who talked to them is still here.
"Of course I am!"