- 1 - Febr

uary

201

5: Is

sue

VI

Nacel Open Door Network VoicesFebruary 2015

In This Issue:Advisors’ Angle: Winter Blues. . . . . . . . . . 3

NOD Voices Study Karina Rajtar. . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Welcome Janel Cook! . . . 2

SPP Update and Service Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Introducing The Admin Team 7

Culture Notes: Black History Month . . . . . 7

nod vOICES2015 PROGRAM UPDATESNacel Open Door long-term programs are welcoming new students arriving for the second semester of the academic year. NOD staff hope students and Host Families are adjusting well and that 10-month students enjoyed the holiday season in the United States!

Private School Program (PSP)PSP is experiencing some exciting new changes in 2015. Vicki Pelletier has taken on the newly developed role of Program Director, overseeing this area of our organization. Additionally, the “Regional Program Director” title will now be changed to “Regional Manager.” The role of the Regional Manager (RM) will be equal to that of an RPD, but was changed to give greater clarity to the responsibilities of the new program management structure. We are continuing to improve and redefine areas in the upcoming months – stay tuned!

Academic Year Program (AYP)The August 2015 placement cycle is well under way! We expect to place about 450 students again this fall and have started to receive student applications. If you have not renewed your local rep training yet for 2015 please contact Jake Adams at jadams@nacelopendoor.org

Short Term Program (STP)Planning for the summer 2015, Short Term Program is underway with groups coming to more than 25 locations around the U.S., including St. Paul Prep in St. Paul, Minnesota. We have received almost 200 applications from our French partners and anticipate that we’ll start to receive applications from our partner in Spain in the coming month.

In addition to students from France and Spain, we will also have students from Italy, Turkey, and China, along with potential groups from Brazil and Japan.

Nacel Open Door Network Voices

- 2 -

Board of DirectorsDr. Frank Tarsitano, PhD – ChairmanMr. Steve Murphy – SecretaryMs. Alice Murphy – TreasurerMr. Gerard AvundoMr. Arnold Franco Mr. Francois Jean HucMs. Hilda Jaffe

Senior Management TeamDr. Frank Tarsitano, PhD – CEO & PresidentMr. Richard Banasikowski, MA – Vice President Mr. Jean Burdin – President, Nacel InternationalMr. Roy S. Nilsson – CFO

Advisory BoardMr. Jean Burdin – President, Nacel InternationalMr. Pierre Coudry – Interclass BrazilMs. Toni Cowles – Retired, Lauder Institute at the Wharton School, UPENNMr. Jaeho Eohm – International Language Forum, KoreaDr. Abraham Ho, DA – Nacel AsiaMs. Marie Jose Huc – CLC

NACEL OPEN DOOR EXECUTIVES

This newsletter is a publication of Nacel Open Door, Inc. For more information on NOD programs and opportunities, please call 800-622-3553, or visit our website at www.nacelopendoor.org.

Newsletter Production Staff: Director of Operations: Rae LenwayDirector of Marketing & Communications: Shannon RauschMarketing Communications Assistant: Meg Beerling

Nacel Open Door, Inc. (NOD) offers multiple programs

in the United States and abroad to meet a variety of cultural and academic goals for all students.

These programs range in duration from one week to multiple years. The focus of some programs is a complete cultural immersion and exchange, while others are focused more on college preparation.

WELCOME JANEL COOK!It is our pleasure to introduce the newest member of the NOD team!

Janel Cook is the new Student Advisor and joins us from a specialized back-ground. Janel has her master’s degree in Intercultural Conflict Management from the University of Applied Sciences in Germany.

Janel has spent time traveling internationally and so far has spent time in Germany, South Korea, and Spain. During her travels to Germany and South Korea, Janel taught ESL classes. She also worked for three years at an adolescent emergency center in St. Paul. We are thrilled to have Janel with us now!

Nacel Open Door Network Voices

- 3 - Febr

uary

201

5: Is

sue

VI

ST. PAUL PREPARATORY SCHOOL (SPP)

Where has the time gone? The Christmas and winter holidays have passed, and we have welcomed in a new year. Our students have either just finished or are about to finish their first semester of classes at their American high schools, and our January students have arrivied.

It is not uncommon at this time of year for students to experience a bit of homesickness after the holidays. For many of our students, this may have been their first time away from their parents. Some may be starting to feel

a bit cooped up due to the long, cold winter season. But, be of good cheer; when things seem darkest, remember the days are now getting longer and brighter with spring just around the corner.

With the arrival of February, we long for and look forward to warmer spring weather with new life springing forth. We have a saying here at NOD that students are “to bloom where they have been planted.” While the student is ultimately responsible for the success or failure of their program, we

are here to water and nourish them with our support and encouragement.Student exchange is a team effort, and with everyone’s contributions, it is an enjoyable and unforgettable experience. Please know how much we appreciate everyone’s time, effort, and energy that are expended into student exchange. Without each and every one of you, the task would be daunting. Thanks for making student exchange such a success.

ADVISORS’ ANGLE: WINTER BLUES

SPP has recently finished the first semester. Students have been shown the true meaning of a “Minnesota Winter” and have taken part in some traditional outdoor winter activities, some for the first time!

Students completed final exams on Friday, January 16. Orientation began for students who arrived for second semester on Tuesday, January 20 and Wednesday, January 21.

SPP has started their Hunger Initiative with the students. Every

Monday until the end of March, students will meet with their assigned group and staff group leader to come up with their own solution to hunger, whether it be on a global, national, or local level; the choice is up to the students. On Wednesday mornings, students will meet with only their group members to work on their project.

On Friday, March 27, students will present their solution to the rest of the school. Students will vote on which team had the best solution, and the winning solution will be impimented by students at SPP

Nacel Open Door Network Voices

As part of my Communication Research class, I was required to conduct a quantitative research project on a communications function. I chose a survey of the Nacel Open Door (NOD) network to determine the effectiveness of the NOD Voices newsletter. This also serves to build toward the capstone project I will complete next year on the connection between branding and mission.

NOD Voices was created in 2012 as part of the NOD rebranding initiative. The goal of the newsletter is to improve communication and – perhaps more importantly – to unify NOD as a community joined in its mission of promoting international understanding and language education. After seven issues, it was about time to assess how well this is being accomplished. Due to time limitations, I had to confine the study to one audience. The network was a natural starting point because you are the ones who represent the NOD mission on the front lines.

BACKGROUNDNOD Voices is published online only via Issuu, a platform that allows the Nacel Open Door Director of Marketing & Communications to email each audience a link to an online document that readers can flip through like a book and click on any hyperlink within the newsletter.

One reason Issuu was selected as the publishing platform for the newsletter was that it offers statistics and analytics about how many times a document is read, viewed, or shared, as well as how much time is spent by readers on each page. This was seen as an opportunity to measure return on investment, as it would be clear whether or not the newsletter is being read regularly. This study showed that the analytics provided by Issuu only serve to benefit NOD if they can be appropriately combined with other sources of data and enough time to analyze and assess the results. The numbers provided by Issuu lack context on their own.

RESEARCH QUESTIONIn order to both look at the overall effectiveness of the newsletter and start looking at the link between branding and mission, survey questions were written in such a way that they would answer the question: “Does the NOD Voices newsletter help Local Representatives and Area/Regional Coordinators better connect with Nacel Open Door’s mission of promoting international understanding and language education?” Questions were formed based on secondary research and discussions with NOD staff.

METHODA survey was sent as a link in an email using the same emailing list as the NOD Voices network list, meaning the same people who receive the newsletter received the survey. Out of 118 Local Representatives and Area/Regional Coordinators, 20 completed the survey, providing a response rate of just under 17 percent. Three of these 20 were directed out of the survey upon responding that they have never read the newsletter, thus reducing the actual response rate of most survey questions to about 14 percent. It was also discovered that the survey was completed by one extra person by mistake, creating an outlier that should have been removed from the data.

LIMITATIONSThere are a number of limitations to this study that impact our ability to rely too heavily on the data gathered. The low response rate makes it difficult to make generalizations about the data. While many questions do follow a trend, more responses and more questions on varying scales might have produced data with more significant trends.

In addition, the lack of demographic information limits context for the data collected. There’s no way to know whether responses were due to which program a Local Rep works with, how long he/she has been with NOD, age, or other similar factors.

NOD VOICES: KARINA RAJTAR

- 4 -

Nacel Open Door Network Voices

Febr

uary

201

5: Is

sue

VI

Question: Which Nacel Open Door program(s) do you work with? (Multiple choice)

Of the 20 responses, 15 (75%) work with the Academic Year Program, 5 (25%) work with the Private School Program, 8 (40%) work with Short Term Programs, and 3 (15%) work with St. Paul Preparatory School.

There are a number of Local Reps who work with multiple programs. Some work primarily with AYP or PSP and then place a few students for the other. Some work with AYP, PSP, or SPP during the academic year and with STP during summer.

Question: How often do you read the NOD Voices newsletter? (Scale)

Local Reps and Coordinators were asked to rank how often they read the newsletter on a scale of one (“I have read one issue”) to five (“I have read every issue”). Eleven of the 15 who answered the question indicated they read the newsletter at least half the time.

Question: Which regular newsletter columns do you read each issue? (Multiple Choice)

Local Reps and Coordinators were asked which regular column or columns they make a point to read in each issue of the newsletter. There were 17 responses. The NOD Marketing Department finds the results of this question helpful in seeing that regular columns appear to be useful to readers. If you have ideas for other columns you’d like to see in future issues, please email Shannon Rausch, Director of Marketing and Communications.

SELECTED RESULTS AND ANALYSIS Results of the quantitative study were analyzed using graphical representations of data, descriptive statistics, and word-mining.

- 5 -

Nacel Open Door Network Voices

- 6 -

Question: I find good ideas for activities I can plan for my students and/or host families when I read the newsletter. (Likert scale)

The Marketing Department encourages Local Reps and Coordinators to share any special activities they organize for students and/or Host Families in order to help spark new ideas for others who might not otherwise interact with their students and Host Families much outside of orientations and MCRs. This question was intended to discover whether that idea-sharing is currently being achieved.

Almost half of respondents – 41 percent – neither agreed nor disagreed that the newsletter gives them ideas for new activities. While 53% of respondents do feel they have found new ideas for activities, this is an area thatcan be further developed.

FUTURE RESEARCHAs previously mentioned, this survey served to not only provide the NOD Marketing Department with information on how effectively NOD Voices is meeting communication goals, but also to begin gathering information for a capstone project looking at the link between branding and mission. As that project begins to come together, you can look forward to further updates on the findings in NOD Voices.

If you have any questions about the survey or the future capstone study, or if you’d like to provide any feedback, send an email to krajtar@nacelopendoor.org.

NOD VOICES: KARINA RAJTAR, CONT.

Our Admin Team has recently been reshapped!

Karina Rajtar has taken on the responsibility of the Team Lead as Operations Assistant. Victoria Mercer and Amanda Malzacher are both Administrative Specialists handling the day-to-day procedures.

Victoria joined NOD in October. She loves to travel and has studied in Thailand. She also did a college fellowship abraod in South India. She will be focusing on the PSP program needs.

Karina is no stranger to NOD. She started with NOD back in 2008 as an intern, eventually joining the organization full-time in 2010. She has shifted jobs several times while at NOD and after leaving NOD early in 2014, returned in October to her new role in operations.

Karina is 100 percent Polish and has been to Poland several times. She has also spent time in Australia, Hungary, Canada, and

Germany. She will be assisting both Victoria and Amanda when needed while working on various special projects.

Amanda started with NOD in August and is primarily working with AYP. Before starting with NOD, Amanda taught primary school in Ghana, studied abroad in Senegal, and spent two years in Guinea while serving in the Peace Corps.

The admin team can collectivly be reached by email at

paperwork@nacelopendoor.org or individually at

krajtar@nacelopendoor.org (ext. 624), vmercer@nacelopendoor.org (ext. 627), and amalzacher@nacelopendoor.org, (ext. 623).

Nacel Open Door National Office 380 Jackson Street, Suite 200

St. Paul, MN 55101 USA

T: 651-686-0080800-622-3553

F: 651-686-9601www.nacelopendoor.orginfo@nacelopendoor.org

www.facebook.com/NacelOpenDoorInc

Co

nta

ct US

CULTURE NOTES

INTRODUCING...

SPAIN The Spanish culture is signifi-cantly more laid-back than the American way of life. Many Spaniards observe “siesta” during the day, during which stores and businesses close down for a couple hours in the afternoon. During this time, Spaniards will often eat a long, relaxing lunch, and some take the time to nap or rest.

The meal schedule in Spain is quite different from that in the U.S., and this might take some adjustment for your student. In Spain, breakfasts are often smaller than in the U.S. Lunch is generally later in the afternoon (about 2 pm), and dinner is often served around 8 p.m.

People in Spain walk a lot or take public transportation. It might take some time for your student to adjust to needing a ride whenever he/she wants to go somewhere. Be sure to discuss the need to give ample notice before a ride is needed.

Victoria MercerKarina Rajtar

Amanda Malzacher

THE ADMIN TEAM: