The two women connect with prospective North Park students by attending college fairs and numerous events sponsored by the Evangelical Covenant Church and its conferences, as well as visiting high school campuses and local Covenant churches in the two regions.

"I hope to talk with students and counselors about the benefits of a North Park education," says Tami Treder, the North Park admissions representative for Minnesota (top photo). "Many counselors tend to recommend Minnesota schools to their students first," she observed. "Unless we go to them with our information, they don't know about us. School counselors help guide and direct kids to certain schools - having them know about North Park is a huge benefit."

For Karah Brown in California (lower photo), the geographical distance from the North Park campus in Chicago and an unfamiliarity on the part of many with what the school offers present a significant challenge. Another challenge is overcoming the concerns of some over sending their child to a diverse big-city urban environment.

"There is a strong Christian influence on campus," Brown said in reference to campus ministries and small group activities. "I got very involved with on-campus ministries - it was the time in my life that I was formulating my values," she said. Brown also finds great value in the diversity represented on campus - what she calls preparing students for real life.

"North Park allows non-Christians and other religions, and some more conservative churches are not as comfortable with that," she explained. "They do not force you into anything; rather, on-campus people come alongside students to nurture them and to encourage them to make good choices of their own volition. You need to make good decisions on your own. No one holds your hand, though many more conservative schools do. That's not real life."

And what about the young people who fear being so far away from home? Brown emphasizes the importance of a small Christian university where no one is a number - each is valued and nurtured along the way. "North Park is a Christian university that has a Christian community on campus, located in a city that offers the world - no school in California offers exactly that."

Both representatives are aware of the keen competition for students these days - there are more than 3,000 colleges and universities in the United States alone, Treder notes. "Because of the number of excellent private schools in Minnesota, it has been a challenge to compete with them," Treder noted. "However, North Park is unlike any other school I have come across and it is fun to share this with others."

The many youth pastors in local Covenant churches are a key audience. "There are a number of youth pastors who did not attend North Park University," Treder observes. "It is especially good to meet with them and their youth groups and to talk about North Park and give them an idea of what we're all about. Her primary targets are high school juniors and seniors. "I hope through phone calls, visits to their high schools and their churches we can give them all the information they need about North Park to make a well-informed decision about their college choice. If we inform guidance counselors and youth pastors about North Park along the way, that is all the better."