In this episode of the Higher Education, Higher Purpose podcast hosts Phil Cook and Heidi Sturm speak with Dr. Scott Van Loo, Vice President for Enrollment Management at Cedarville University. Dr. Van Loo shares his insights on the unique qualities that have contributed to Cedarville's recent success in Christian higher education. With a steadfast commitment to its mission and a vibrant campus community, Cedarville attracts students nationwide who seek a Christ-centered education. Phil, Heidi, and Dr. Van Loo discuss the significance of fostering a supportive environment for students to grow in their faith. 

What You Will Learn:

• Cedarville University emphasizes a clear mission aligning academic excellence with biblical authority for student transformation.
• Dr. Van Loo’s unique journey illustrates how faith profoundly influences career paths in higher education.
• The NACCAP community fosters collaboration among institutions, enhancing recruiting strategies and sharing best practices.
• Coaching experiences in sports provide valuable lessons on teamwork and leadership applicable to enrollment management.
• Cedarville’s growth is attributed to its commitment to faith, community, and a high-quality education.

Resources:

Visit our website: https://www.naccap.org

Email us: Office@naccap.org

Visit The NACCAP Annual Conference: https://naccapconference.org

Welcome to the Higher Ed Higher Purpose Podcast, a podcast designed for NatCap members, prospective students and their families.

My name is Phil Cook and it's my pleasure to serve as the president of NatCap.

And I'm Heidi Sturm, and I'm the director of Marketing and communications here at NatCap.

Heidi, we've been, as our listeners know, we've been talking to various members and leaders within the NatCap community.

We're so pleased that we are continuing our series of interviewing our board members.

So we're so thrilled to have Dr.

Scott Van Loo with us today.

Scott, thanks for being on the podcast with us today.

Thank you for the invitation.

Glad to be here.

Well, I want to read the formal introduction just because it's what we do, but Dr.

He holds a PhD in educational leadership from the University of Dayton, a master's degree in Student affairs in Higher Education from Wright State University, and a BA in Comprehensive Social Science.

Let me ask you about that, Scott from Cedarville University.

He has two decades of higher education.

His experience spans roles in admission, student life, and cabinet level position at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Ashland University.

He presents at regional national enrollment management conferences.

He's contributed written publications including the Chronicle of Higher Ed and Business Offer Magazine.

And he's a husband and father.

Scott, thanks again for being with us.

We're glad that you're here.

Yeah, thank you again.

Well, tell me.

So I am curious about that.

I don't know of all the interviews we've been doing in my interaction in higher ed.

Tell me what the comprehensive social science degree from Cedarville is and do they still offer that degree there?

They do.

So when I was in high school, going into college, one of the favorite shows that I liked on TV at the time was called Law and Order.

And so Law and Order.

Then of course, as I was just watching it and loved it, I was like, I want to be a lawyer.

And so went to college.

And when I started at Cedarville, I was pre law, you know, very ambitious.

And then I got about a year in and I thought this is a really long path that I would be on.

And now in hindsight, I realized I ended up going on a long path for education anyway.

But at the time I was like, well, I really enjoy social sciences.

I enjoy things around history, government, and I really want to be a coach too.

And so maybe God's calling me to go work in a high school environment, be a coach.

And also Be a high school teacher.

So comprehensive social sciences.

They certified me as a 7 through 12 teacher, teaching history, government, econ.

And the reason why it's labeled comprehensive is that it doesn't limit you to just one of those subject areas.

And so graduated with that and then went and taught high school for a few years, coached for a few years before moving into higher education.

Well, that's helpful.

That's good to know.

It sets us up perfectly for what we're talking about in terms of a little bit of your personal story.

We're not delving into any kind of really intimate personal matters, but before we got on, we were talking some sports.

I'm a frustrated athlete.

You're a real athlete.

You have children that are real athletes.

But tell me, you mentioned coaching a couple times.

Athletics have an important part in your background.

How does it impact what you do?

Tell us a little bit about your sports affection and sports connections, if you will.

Yeah, so it's always interesting for me to think about what I do now and then also the things that I have that are other interests and how they kind of feed into, you know, overseeing the enrollment efforts at Cedarville, overseeing other institutions in the past.

And when I go back to my high school days, one of the things that I just valued so highly was just being able to compete in sports.

And, you know, I was talking to my son, who's a junior in high school.

I have a daughter who's a freshman in high school.

And so they're both in this window of time where they have this great opportunity to play competitive sports, where fans show up and they get to do everything that they get to do out on the field or the court.

And I was talking to my son, and I said, you know, the one thing about life is there's so many things that you do that have longevity.

You know, where you pursue education, you can do that your whole life, and you'll do all these different things.

I said, but playing competitive sports, where it's actually scheduled for you to go play another team, I said, that is a limited window in life.

And very few people then get to have the LeBron type career where you go to the NBA and then have a sustained career, most people, I think it's like 3% go on and actually go from high school sports to college sports.

And then from there, it's just minuscule, those that go on to play professional sports.

So when I think about my own experience of being a senior in high school, it really formed my decision of where I went to college, university Because Cedarville was one of the best opportunities.

And so I came here, played basketball.

And one of the things that, you know, in all honesty and candor, I learned right away that God has gifted a lot of other people more than me in the sport of basketball.

And I loved it.

I loved the environment, I loved the competition.

But I only played my freshman year.

And a lot of it was just because of this realization that there was so much more that the university had to offer.

Sports was great, I loved it.

But my athletic ability was being, was being pushed to the max.

And I just realized I didn't think I could probably compete at that high level for another three years.

Well, that translates then into coaching.

And so when I graduated college and then even now help coach an AAU team, I just realized that it's such a platform to build into others lives and to really just see them excel at a high level.

It teaches things around selflessness, teamwork, being about something bigger than yourself.

And you know, when I think about those aspects of coaching, it's then, do I lead my team in enrollment management that way?

Do we selflessly serve?

Do we think of others before ourselves?

Do we, do we seek to just, you know, in everything that we do, it's bigger than us.

The mission of Cedarville University, the vision of Cedarville University is bigger than us.

And how are we able to, in our role, steward that?

Well, and so that's kind of how coaching blends into my professional career.

I love it.

The fact is, it is a natural connection, it's a natural transition to the work that we do in enrollment, the work that we do in admissions.

It's a natural transition.

You mentioned the classroom a little bit.

Did you miss the classroom?

Do you get to teach at Cedarville a little bit or what subject did you teach?

And what about the classroom?

You've been a lifelong student, obviously, but do you miss the classroom or is the coaching kind of scratch that itch for you?

I think coaching does scratch that itch.

And so, you know, in all candor, 22 years old to 25 years old, I'm teaching high school history and government.

And I would say that what I learned is I really enjoyed the content and I enjoyed teaching.

I enjoyed the relationships with students.

But I wasn't a person who my life was absorbed with the content.

And so I found that the best master teachers really love the content.

They love the subject area.

They will continue to grow and expand in it.

But what I found myself gravitating towards is I was really excited for 3, 30 in the afternoon where I could go and I could.

I could do and I could.

I could live that out.

And so in my free time, then it was thinking through, you know, strategies to motivate team members or to, you know, put this play in motion.

And so I thought, okay, I'm tracking more that way than I am towards, you know, the history and government genre.

And just saying I want to pursue everything there, still love it, still get totally involved.

Last week was great.

I loved just watching everything unfold and just seeing how all that happened.

But at the same.

Same time, I would say that that's the balance that I've tried to have in my life.

Excellent.

Well, and your reference.

I've been out of the country.

We're recording this on a Monday morning.

And what happened last week, Scott?

I was out of the country.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

The presidential election that happened here in the United States.

And so we're talking about that.

It was fascinating.

And that'd be a whole podcast in and of itself.

Is there a better term of endearment maybe than coach, you know, or.

I remember growing.

My dad was a pastor, so it's a term of endearment that shows respect.

Who is a coach or a pastor or someone in your life, Scott, that had an impact on your life, that invested in your life?

Is there someone that comes to mind when you say this person invested in my life and I'm grateful today and.

And contribute to what you're doing in your work now?

Yeah, there's multiple people I can think of, but the one that I'll really bring out is when I came back to Cedarville.

And for seven years, I did that, and by the time I got to probably the fourth or fifth year, really started to think through, okay, what does my career look like from here?

I'm in my late 20s, early 30s, and really starting to get a better idea and better understanding of my gifts and how God has wired me.

And had a vice president for enrollment come alongside me.

His name is John Grady.

He was the former vice president for enrollment at Indiana Westland, came to Cedarville and then was.

Eventually became the provost here.

But he was someone who spoke into my life and just said, you know what, Scott, Like, I'm watching you in the student affairs role.

You're doing an excellent job.

I'M also getting to know you interpersonally, kind of seeing how you're bent your wiring.

And I really want to encourage you to consider enrollment.

And I just thought, wait a second.

Those admissions people, they work pretty hard, you know, not that student affairs, you don't work hard.

I'm having fun here with students, and now you're telling me I would be responsible for recruiting students.

Didn't even move into the graduate admissions role.

And so one of the things that I struggled with in that, and this is for any young professional out there, is I always thought that life should be the stepping stone of career paths.

And in my prayer and in my reflection time at that, I thought, no, really, my life should be about using my gifting for his glory.

And so what I realized in that is that my gifts were becoming.

I was coming to a better understanding of those.

Others were validating that and just saying, hey, this is where we really think that you're gifted.

So position didn't matter at that point.

You know, compensation changes didn't matter at that point.

At that point, it was step into what God is opening up and then see what he has in store for you.

So John Brady is one of those people who really spoke in my life in that way.

You're listening to the Higher Ed Higher Purpose podcast.

We're talking to Dr.

Scott Van Loo, the vice president for enrollment management at Cedarville University.

And Scott, we're going to come in a second talk about Cedarville.

I want to give you a chance to talk about the.

And we've talked about this a few times as I've been on campus with you, about Cedarville's remarkable journey and the story that you've been on, the success that you.

And the critical role that you play in Cedarville success.

But it's interesting.

There are many parallels.

Student affairs, a mentoring, encouraging you to be a part of admissions, then having success.

It's.

I mean, I have a similar story, and it's great to hear that.

Before Heidi jumps in with a couple questions, let me ask you a little bit about your faith.

Did you grow up in a.

Were you from a Christian home?

Is your story one that you came to know the Lord later in life?

Tell us a little bit about your faith journey that obviously informs everything that you do every day.

As coach, mentor, and leader at Cedarville.

Yeah, thank you for asking that.

So going back to high school again, one of the things I was blessed with is that I was raised in a Christian family, but both of my parents came to faith a little bit later in life.

And the same would be true of the grand grandparents that I had on one side.

So I was blessed to grow up in what was essentially a family farm of some sorts.

My father was, or my grandfather harvested topsoil, so he sold several hundred acres, lived next door to them.

And my grandfather played such a role and just really pouring into my face sometimes.

We felt he was really preachy, but he was saved from owning a bar and having a different life in his late 30s.

And Christ redeemed him.

And, you know, he just wanted to live that out.

And so he poured it in my life.

My parents poured in my life, so I was blessed with that.

And then, you know, being raised in a Christian home, one of the things that you come to know is what it means to be born again.

And so it made the profession of faith at a very young age.

But then as I moved from my junior to senior year of high school, there really was a moment where I felt that the Spirit gripped me in a deeper way and in a deeper sense.

And it was.

It was that it was just coming to a point of realizing, like, this life is not my own.

It's to be lived on mission for him.

It's to be lived on purpose for him.

So as I head into my senior year of high school, what will that look like?

And so what it looked like is it changed my friend network, it changed my priorities, and it really did impact the way that I viewed where I would go to college or university.

And so as I headed into my senior year with my arms open and just saying, God, where will you take me?

I thought there was a path before me that I was stepping through.

But he made it apparent in February, March of my senior year that Cedarville was the school that I was supposed to go to.

And I always laugh because in our role, we're always telling juniors, be really serious.

Know your schools by this point in August, start that application so that you're well.

I was a late applicant to Cedarville.

I was a late admit, I was a late commit.

And so much of that was just because the work that the Spirit was doing in my life was still being completed to get me to the point of really making the decision that Cedarville was the right fit and really sensing that that was where God wanted Me.

And so then fast forward, you know, Cedarville, wonderful school to just help you grow and build in your faith.

Prepared me then for what God had next.

And, you know, life has been a journey.

I was blessed to be my wife here.

We got married a year after college and then just continued to be as involved and committed to the local church as we can be.

And so, you know, every day is just growing in my faith, learning more from the Word, and just continue to humbly submit and do the best that I can for his glory.

The story is almost like right out of Central Casting, Scott, of talking about the growth and development.

But those of us who know Scott that listen to the language, the words that you're using, Scott, are real and you've lived it.

And you've been a wonderful influence among.

I know it's Cedarville, but even among across the campus, people are living out this faith in a very real way.

So thanks for doing that, Heidi.

And I just love hearing the stories of how people ended up at the school that they chose and how God will use different circumstances or people to put you where he wants you to be.

So in saying all of that, now that you've been at Cedarville for many years, how did you first become familiar with nacap?

What was your knowledge of it?

I guess I'm sure not as a student, you wouldn't have known what NATCAP was.

But as you started in your role working at Cedarville, how did you learn about NatCap?

Man.

Phil, we're getting older.

I'm older than you, so I'm old, man.

I can't remember what it was called, but it was a counselor training thing with NatCap, where Chant oversaw that.

And then you go and you're there with other admissions counselors who are doing this for the first time from other schools.

And so there's probably 20, 25 of us.

And I believe it was in Indiana somewhere.

Most of what you guys do is in Indiana, but no, it was in Indiana somewhere.

And so that was my first introduction.

And then I just thought, Chant is such a fascinating individual.

And why is he having us sit in a group of four people at a restaurant and we all have to tell the waiter or waitress about our school while we're sitting there?

That was one of the tasks that was before Us.

And so, but, you know, that's cold sales or that's, you know, just that mindset of, you know, getting to a point where you can share something about your casual university with complete stranger.

And so that was my introduction.

And then the irony of all of it is I think that next summer we hosted the NatCap conference.

So that was already in the works, already in the planning.

So then it was, you know, all in right away with knowing what NatCap was, what the mission.

And that was in the time where the recession was hitting really hard, if you remember the housing crisis.

And so when we hosted, unfortunately, the tenants wasn't as strong as it had been before prior years because a lot of schools were trying to figure some things out with budget and some of the challenges that were there.

But it was just a blessed time to get to meet others that were doing what I was doing.

And, you know, and I'd only been doing it a year at that point, but just to have them come and experience our campus.

But then also then moving forward, get to know more as I go to college fairs and learn all the various things that NatCap has to offer.

Well, I think that program was called back back in the day, becoming an admissions professional, because I did that same thing a few years prior to you doing that.

And you guys can both do.

Because you were close to Indiana, down in Tennessee, we didn't have money to send us to Tennessee, so I didn't do any of that stuff.

Now in Pennsylvania, back in the day.

We call them Snack sessions for new admissions.

We went from BAP to snack.

It sounds like one of those old Batman movies where they have the, you know, the awards.

So now we do it virtually, too, and we've had some growth there.

But it's, it's a, it's a great point that you started there.

Yeah.

And so, Scott, what do you see as some of the benefits of a NatCap membership?

Yeah, so I, you know, multiple benefits.

But one of the things that comes to mind and that I share with our admissions leadership team and others is that whenever you can go into an environment and you're at a college fair and at that college fair, you know that there's similar and like institutions and that families are there for the express purpose of learning more about Christian colleges and universities in this world where there's millions of students that we could focus recruiting on.

But to know that there's a niche that NatCap is helping to bring together an opportunity in a specific region that is of such value to the institution and Then I would say professionally also just to rub shoulders, elbows now in the role that I'm at with others that are experienced, experiencing some of the things that we're experiencing and also just to kind of comfort each other, but then also get challenges.

And I would say that I'm not a person who necessarily always has original ideas, but I really like to borrow my colleagues ideas.

And so, you know, just hearing the things that they're doing and just kind of starting to think, okay, could we do that or do it maybe.

Maybe we are doing it at some level.

But maybe what they said, avoid the way that they focus on their leadership effort there is really helpful.

So I think professionally it's really helped to be able to build that network and have some people I can call on if I'm ever up against some challenges and really need to bounce off someone who's doing exactly what I'm doing.

That's great.

And I was going to say too, you also hosted a fly in drive in recently.

So maybe just tell us a little bit about what the fly in drive in is.

Why do you host it and why would you tell other schools like, this is a great opportunity, you should consider this.

Yeah.

So this is where like going back to the coaching, going back to my competitive nature.

And so when you're asking questions about NatCap, I always think about if we're not doing NatCap, are we not being competitive?

So one of the things to lean into is to say yes, mission fidelity also, you know, all the recruitment opportunities, professional opportunities.

But then when you have the chance to host a fly in, dry in drive in again, it's that opportunity to bring 20, 30, maybe 40 counselors to your institution to give them a firsthand experience a lot of times of an institution they've never seen.

And so we had counselors here from Texas, from Florida, from Missouri and other locations.

And when they come, it's then unpacking for them.

This is Cedarville University and this is what's happening here and this is how God is working.

And then to know that they then go back and that's where the competitive part comes in.

But they go back to their high school students.

And when their students considering things, you're hopeful and prayerful that Cedarville is on the radar.

You know, not that they have to be biased in what they're doing or how they're communicating, but they now know your institution is one that is doing it well and that it can be with confidence.

They can recommend your institution for that to that student if it's the right fit.

Well, what you've just shared, Scott, both in terms of the professional development, you know, I've heard said no idea is really a new idea.

So everyone's stealing ideas and modifying them.

But the idea, the collegial work that we do, but also the competitive work, because this is competitive and in our world, in Christian higher education, I use the NACAP frame to describe it all the time.

Some talk about CCCU or IACE or other kind of acronyms that will mean something to the folks in industry.

Cedarville has distinguished itself as a leading institution among all Christian higher education and is having wonderful success.

I've been on the campus a few times in my three years with NatCap, and there is an energy and there is an inertia that's palpable.

So talk a little bit about Cedarville as we wrap up here today, about the momentum that's going on now.

Why is it going so well?

What's the secret?

Sauce, Scott, what's going on at Cedarville?

Even maybe a decade ago?

Some of those kind of stories, the Mission fidelity that you talked about, what is the secret, or is there a secret and why Cedarville been so successful in the last few years?

Yeah.

And so for the listeners, I'll just give a little bit of the elevator speech about who Cedarville is.

But we're located in southwest Ohio.

And so you can see that there's definitely a diversity of enrollment here.

But some of the things that make Cedarville unique is that we are a school that requires students to have a profession of faith to attend.

We also have a very clear and concise doctrinal statement that all of our faculty and staff have to yearly affirm.

And then what that does, Phil, is it just lends itself to a really unique community.

And I know that Cedarville is not for everyone, but what we find within the evangelical world is that when students and families step on our campus, they'll say, we can see that this school really is committed to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

And so how many places can say that over 30 years the fidelity to the gospel and the mission of Jesus Christ are still the same?

Now a lot has changed.

Like Cedarville was known historically as having rules and all these standards of dress code and things like that.

And those things have definitely modified and changed.

We're a different campus than we were in that respect from where we were 30 years ago.

But the heart of the institution has remained.

And so last Friday we had over 800 guests here for one of our visit days and go through the whole program, see 40 minutes of just, you know, this is Cedarville.

This is what makes us unique and distinct.

And then I get up at the end and I'm able to just kind of capitalize on that opportunity.

And the thing that always strikes me as I watch the student video is those students are saying the same things I heard students saying 30 years ago.

And we frame it in this thousand days.

You're here for a thousand days as students.

And our goal is to not just see you grow in your education, but then to see you, Lord willing, grow in your faith in a deeper way.

So we're very intentional with that.

Every student graduates with a Bible minor.

We offer chapel every day, which is very unique.

But we have students who generally, when they come here, that's what they want.

That's their passion to grow in their faith, grow in their knowledge, and then be ready to transform the world for Jesus Christ.

And so all that to say that, you know, how do you explain Cedarville University, a school in southwest Ohio in the cornfields that's growing and seeing this?

You know, only 35% of our students come from Ohio.

So students are coming from all over the country and all over the world.

And you can only explain that, but by God, right?

I mean, it's a God thing.

And so when you step here, I really sense that you would.

And you mentioned this, but you really do sense that there's a different spirit and that the spirit is one.

That it is really, I think Christ followers seeking to honor and glorify God in all they do.

And at the same time looking.

And this is where I'm blessed.

The faculty and staff areas that it's really people are here for the mission, not here for any personal accolades or personal growth, but it's here for the mission.

And that is to see our students, their lives transformed.

This is our mission statement.

Their lives transformed by excellent education in submission to biblical authority, and also to see them intentionally discipled while they're here.

So those are, those are things that we just, that's our heart.

It's a God thing.

And it's just awesome to be a part of and privilege to be a part of it.

Well, as you said, we have been a first hand witness the testimony to it with the chapel every day when you have thousands of students in chapel, it Scott, I said, Scott, you put me in the section where all the kids are out with their Bibles taking notes.

He said no, Phil, it's all over the place.

And he's right.

So, so to you, Scott van Loo and Dr.

Thomas White, the president, all the people at Cedarville, we're so thrilled that you're a part of NatCap.

We are especially proud, Scott, that you're a part of what we do, that you're on our board and we thank you for taking time to learn a little bit more about you but also for folks to hear the Cedarville story.

Thanks so much and we'll see you again soon.

Thank you.

Appreciate that the opportunity and looking forward to seeing you here in a few weeks.

Yes, sir.

Thanks Scott.

Be sure to join us next time for the Higher Ed Higher Purpose podcast.