Flint Hills Technical College

INFORMATION REGARDING BOARD AGENDA ITEM

TO:	Board of Trustees
DATE:	December 8, 2025
PREPARED & SUBMITTED BY:	Lisa Kirmer
SUBJECT:	Student Services and Academic Affairs

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Academic Affairs:

The Business Technology program has a student that is a Type 1 Diabetic, who when she was in elementary school, wrote a letter to Santa asking for an insulin pump. Kent Schnackenberg surprised her at school and provided one for her and it’s been lifechanging for her. Throughout the Personal Finance class this semester she has shared her diabetes as examples of why an emergency fund is important and why health insurance is beneficial. The week before Thanksgiving Andrea had them share about a hero/someone who has influenced them and Haylee shared how Kent Schnackenberg changed her life by providing the insulin pump. Someone posted about Kent’s blue light for diabetes awareness on Facebook and Andrea shared that a student has shared many times this semester about Kent’s impact on her by him making her Christmas wish come true. Kent reached out to Andrea and knew immediately that it was Haylee and sent her pictures of the letter that Haylee wrote and the picture of them from the day he gave her the pump. He asked if he could surprise Haylee in class. He is coming tomorrow to talk to the Personal Finance class about Type 1 and the financial impact of chronic illnesses and why he does the fundraising that he does and is bringing Team Schnack T-shirts for the class and a special one for Haylee.
A language exchange was held on November 19th at the Adult Education Center in collaboration with Kansas Spanish Speakers.
The Multimedia Design instructor, Casey Wilson, and students assisted in live streaming the Annual Christmas Parade in downtown Emporia. Students were able to gain real-time, real-world experience while capturing video and audio of the parade and all of the activities.
The Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) Lab was upgraded with new pieces of equipment thanks to donations from Hill's Pet Nutrition, The JM Smucker Co., and Lineage Logistics.
Cami SanRomani, an amazing baker from Council Grove, was the guest speaker for the Hospitality/Culinary Arts program.
Two additional Little Free Libraries were added at the South Campus and at the Adult Education Center. The libraries operate on a simple principle: "Take a book, share a book."
Dental Assisting students delivered oral hygiene care supplies to SOS, Inc. and Bloom House Youth Services, ensuring our community has access to essential dental care products in celebration of World Kindness Day.
Dental Hygiene students represented FHTC at the Oral Health Kansas 2025 Conference on November 7th.

Institutional Effectiveness:

Higher Learning Commission - Preparing to edit the final draft and begin pulling together all pieces of evidence.
Assessment- Had a strong Staff Assessment day. Sending out end-of-the-semester reminders this week. Preparing for the faculty assessment day in January.
Grants- J. Corpening is looking into several opportunities for the Overlander property as well as beginning the preparation work for several options that may be

applicable to the AIEC initiative.

Patterson Family Foundation-Precision Ag/CDL

Total Amount of Grant: $672,288

Amount Spent: $344,157.58

Amount Remaining: $328,130.42

Specific Notes or Progress
- Bidding process for the drone is complete and has been purchased.
Issues- if any
- No issues to report.

Patterson Family Foundation- Mobile Dental Unit

Total Amount of Grant: $111,080

Amount Spent: $0

Amount Remaining: $111,080

Purchased Items
- None
Specific Notes or Progress
- Katherine has been working on the specifications for the van.
Issues- if any
- No issues to report.

General- Final draft of the 2026-2027 course schedule is almost complete. On target for a final review in January for mid-to-late February enrollment start.

Marketing:

Current Marketing Initiatives

The marketing department is actively preparing for our spring gala scheduled for April 2026. Planning and promotional materials development is already underway to ensure this major fundraising and community engagement event receives the visibility and attendance it deserves. We successfully generated media attention in November with the announcement of new Little Free Libraries installed at both our Welding and Adult Education campuses. This initiative enhances our community engagement efforts and demonstrates FHTC's commitment to literacy and accessible educational resources beyond our formal programming. The positive media coverage reinforced the college's position as a community-centered institution. This digital outreach continues to provide measurable value in advancing the college's mission and maintaining our competitive position in the technical education market.

Social Media Performance Report

There has been strong social media performance across FHTC's digital platforms during November 2025. Our institutional social media presence continues to serve as a valuable tool for student recruitment, community engagement, and stakeholder communications. Our combined social media channels reached 73,782 individuals during the month, generating 178,365 total impressions across Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. This represents significant visibility for the college within our target markets. The average post engagement rate of 6.42% indicates that our content is resonating with audiences, which is notably above typical industry benchmarks for educational institutions. Facebook remains our strongest platform with 67,335 people reached and 148,841 impressions, demonstrating the continued importance of this channel for community engagement. Instagram reached 5,360 individuals with 26,846 impressions, providing effective visual storytelling for prospective students. LinkedIn, while reaching a smaller audience of 1,087 people, generated 211 link clicks—the highest of any platform—indicating strong engagement from professional and industry audiences interested in our programs and partnerships.

Our content generated 328 total link clicks directing traffic to the college website, 58 comments and replies fostering community dialogue, and 2,423 video views showcasing our campus and programs.

Website Performance

Website analytics demonstrate the effectiveness of our integrated digital marketing strategy. In November, the FHTC website recorded 28,554 pageviews (up 84%) from 15,113 users (up 116%), with 19,501 sessions (up 92%). These substantial increases reflect successful enrollment campaign activities and heightened community interest in our programs. New user acquisition increased by 126%, indicating strong reach into prospective student markets. Traffic sources were primarily organic search and direct navigation, suggesting effective SEO performance and strong brand recognition. The average session duration of 1 minute 51 seconds and pages per session rate of 1.46 indicate visitors are finding relevant information efficiently. Our exceptionally low bounce rate of 0.7% demonstrates that site visitors are actively engaging with multiple pages and content areas.

Student Services:

The Student Services department has been hard at work facilitating the transition from paper student record files to all electronic student record files. This will save our staff valuable time and energy that we can redistribute into supporting our students, staff and faculty. As part of this transition, Admissions is working diligently to reshape and codify our processes inline with this project. We are aiming to have all current applicants and current students' files scanned by Fall 2026. This project will work hand in hand with the implementation of our new CRM software, hosted by J1 Web. Admissions will be reassessing stage communications and working closely with the Marketing team to ensure we reach the right audience. We'll be looking closely at the content, timing, and design of all the materials used in recruitment and during the admissions process. The goal is to be sure that our marketing material and admissions processes work together to make FHTC inviting and accessible to all prospective students.

Students and employees participated in the Annual Christmas Parade on Tuesday, December 2nd with a float promoting a variety of programs.
Student Services staff have organized a variety of drives for students including a food drive, toy drive and baby formula drive.
A Finals Breakfast is being hosted by Student Services staff on Monday, December 8th for students.
HALO is hosing a Gift Wrapping fundraiser.
Admissions staff hosted a Junior/Senior Day on November 13th. The campus had a lot of energy with high school students exploring programs, asking questions, and getting a real feel for what it's like to be part of the FHTC family.
FHTC Employees stepped up in a big way, collecting 55 bags full of food for students in need in preparation for Thanksgiving.

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FHTC Board of Trustees

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