Major milestone: Kathy Borton's old-school approach works in Admission recruiting

Associate Director of Admission Kathy Borton has worked for five presidents (not including interims) and 19 vice presidents during her tenure at Heidelberg. She must be doing something right because her longevity at the ‘Berg is virtually unparalleled.

Earlier this month, Kathy celebrated 50 years of employment at Heidelberg. She’s been in the Admission Office since day one. Colleagues past and present surprised her with a reception in honor of the impressive milestone.

“I’ve always liked Admission. I like the people,” Kathy says.

Let’s face it. She likes people, period. People from all walks of life. Parents, students, colleagues. She has connected on a friend level with colleagues too, including Kelly Depinet, who’s also been an Admission employee although for “only” 43 years.

Kathy’s ’Berg's career began at age 18. She worked mostly full time, albeit for a few years to raise her children, Ian and Amber, both of whom are ‘Berg alumni. In 2008, life threw her family a curve when her husband’s employer, American Standard, closed up shop.

“I thought, ‘Well, I guess I need to go to college,’” she says. For the next six years, she continued to work full time and attend classes in the evening at Heidelberg’s then-Maumee branch campus. Accompanying her was another treasured colleague, Linda Mapus, now retired.

“I wanted to wait until Amber and Ian had graduated (from Heidelberg), because no one wants their mom in college with you,” Kathy jokes.

She and Linda graduated together, with bachelor’s degrees, in 2013. Working as the office manager in the Admission Office at the time, Kathy envisioned more. Then-VP Doug Kellar gave her the opportunity she was looking for.

“Doug asked me what I wanted to do, now that I had my degree, and I told him, ‘I want to use it.’ He gave me a shot, and I’ve always appreciated that.”

Doug promoted Kathy to admission counselor and assigned her the challenging southeastern Ohio recruiting territory. The rest, as they say, is history.

Two years ago, two recruiters landed 96 students from 18 counties in Ohio. When one of the recruiters left suddenly in September of 2023, Kathy covered her own territory plus the departing recruiter’s territory. In that year, she recruited 110 from the same 18 counties by herself – one-third of Heidelberg’s incoming class that year. And she hasn’t stopped since.

“She is very approachable and personable with all families, and she will talk with you non-stop,” said colleague Brad Gibson, Director of Student Service Operations. “She always has info to share and stories to tell that connect with students. There’s a reason they call her ‘Chatty Kathy’!”

So what’s her secret to success? Kathy admits to being old-school, but it works. She keeps a 3x5 card with information about each student she recruits so she has it close by when she makes personal phone calls to them. That’s right … good, old-fashioned phone calls, one night every week, from her office in the basement of University Hall, when most everyone else has gone home. “And if I don’t reach the kid, I’ll call their parent,” she says. She calls to congratulate every one of her recruits who is accepted, thanks them for choosing Heidelberg and many times, walks them through the next steps to enrollment.

It’s important, she says, to make a personal connection with prospective students and their families. And it’s equally important to go the extra mile. For example, every year Kathy hand-writes several hundred Christmas cards – over 400 last year – and sends them to the students she is actively recruiting. She even adds personal notes to every card!

Those extra touches, she believes, “are what rings true with students and parents.”

“Parents appreciate that, and they’re paying the bill,” she says. “Students do often listen to their parents on their college choice.

“They won’t remember statistics you give them, but they will always remember how you treat them.”

Although the hours can be long and the work tedious sometimes, Kathy believes in Heidelberg’s mission. “We feel so strongly that student success is our success,” she says.

Perhaps that’s why it’s so rewarding when students she recruited and who graduated years ago return to campus, seeking her out just to say thanks. “It’s my job, but for them to stop by and say thank you, it means a lot.”

One of Kathy’s recent recruits was quite an easy “sell.” Her granddaughter and Amber’s daughter, Brooklyn Ranieri, is a sophomore at the Berg this fall.

“We’re very much a Heidelberg family,” Kathy says.  

May the legacy live on!