CampusESP welcomes customer 350: St. John’s University

A comprehensive family engagement strategy has become a true need-to-have on campuses across the U.S. as more and more colleges and universities have seen the impact parents have on student outcomes and institutional goals. At CampusESP we are proud that we, in turn, have been brought in to help so many of these schools scale their family outreach and communications and become partners in their strategies.

In fact, we’ve partnered with more than 350 of them! We’re excited to announce and welcome CampusESP customer #350 — St. John’s University! This Queens, NY, university has a renewed focus on growing their family programming, and we’re excited to help them reach their families where they are!

New initiative leads to new hire

St. John’s turned to CampusESP as part of a year-long focus on scaling their family engagement strategy. The process began in January when Karen Moritz Simons was hired as the school’s first Director of Parent & Family Connections.

“Prior to my arrival, parent outreach was sporadic and done by various groups, mostly in career services. Families only received intermittent attention,” said Simons. “But more and more families are involved in their student's experience. They want to make sure the investment they are making in education is going to pay off. We needed a strategy that reflected that parents and families are integral to the college experience — they are constituents of the university in many different ways from enrollment to advancement.”

Simons says her mission is to provide families with the information they need to support their students. But as an office of one, providing personalized content to the 16,000 parents in her database was not scalable.

Using tech to reach more families meaningfully

With CampusESP, St. John’s will be able to easily share reminders, news, and important updates with the school’s families through automated and tailored newsletters and targeted announcements. By getting these families the right information at the right time, parents will be better able to advise their students, strengthening their support system and helping them stay successful and on path to graduation. 

“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome St. John’s as our 350th partner school,” said Dave Becker, CEO and co-founder of CampusESP. “More and more, institutions are recognizing the influence and impact of families but facing the realities of stretched staffs and budgets. CampusESP can help by serving as an extension of their team and allow them to both efficiently scale efforts and see improvements in student outcomes.”

As St. John’s launches with CampusESP, Simons has high expectations for how she’ll now be able to support families, meet them where they are, and provide critical support equitably. In particular she hopes to better serve first-generation families and those not actively engaging in other areas the university historically has utilized, like on social media.

“With the help of CampusESP, I can be the resource here at St. John’s that parents and families feel like they can go to when they don’t have the answers or know how to help their students,” she said. “Having this connection with families can only strengthen and improve the student experience here. And that’s what it's all about.”

We couldn’t agree more! Welcome to CampusESP, St. John’s!