NSLC: How building relationships helps us choose the right students for us

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It began with data roaming accidentally turned off – and ended with cooperation across three continents.

A Brazilian student was travelling with her mother to take up her place on a National Student Leadership Conference pre-college summer programme. They’d arrived at Heathrow airport and were looking for the NSLC-organised transfer to the University of Oxford, where the programme would be held.

But because the mother’s data roaming was turned off, the NSLC staff at Heathrow were unable to contact her.

Worried because no-one had called her – and not realising why – the  parent emailed her daughter’s university counsellor and her counsellor’s supervisor, both in Brazil, where it was the middle of the night. The counsellor then called Andrea Maldonado, NSLC’s director of international and overseas admissions, in Chicago. Between them, they managed to ensure that the mother and daughter found the NSLC team at Heathrow – where they were immediately reassured that they were in safe and capable hands.

“After we’d resolved the situation, I was talking to the educator involved,” says Dr Maldonado. “She said, ‘I’m so glad this happened with NSLC, where we have a direct link to you, so we can call any time on a Sunday and resolve the situation well.’”

This is one of the ways in which NSLC distinguishes itself from other organisations offering similar programmes: it prioritises relationships.

NSLC: building relationships

NSLC runs career-oriented leadership programmes for middle- and high-school students, held on university campuses, mostly in the US. The aim is to provide students with an opportunity to gain leadership skills relevant to their potential future career. 

Every member of staff at NSLC focuses on building personal relationships with educators and counsellors – when visiting schools, but also when emailing or speaking on the phone. 

So when the Brazilian counsellor had to call Dr Maldonado at 6am on Sunday to resolve the airport misunderstanding, they were drawing on a relationship that extended over the best part of a decade, during which time more than 55 of the school’s students had attended NSLC courses.

Approximately 10 per cent of students attending NSLC courses come from schools outside the US. In order to facilitate relationship-building, NSLC employs admissions counsellors around the world. For example, an employee in Costa Rica – with a background in teaching – focuses on all relationships in Central America. NSLC also has admissions counsellors who travel across Europe, as well as Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. 

“We know the value of that direct touch: having someone in country who can meet one-on-one at various times throughout the year,” says Dr Maldonado. “Someone who can have Zoom meetings in their native language – that’s also important. 

“A lot of families are really anxious – and rightly so, because they’re entrusting their children to us. So, just by being in country, our admissions advisers are able to meet with a family at Starbucks and reassure them.

“I’ve always offered that any of our staff are able and willing to meet with families to go through a sample schedule – what each programme will look like, and who are the guest speakers – often before they’ve chosen NSLC.”

For students who love to be busy

NSLC is also deliberately transparent about which kinds of students their courses will – and, importantly, will not – be suitable for. Courses are highly structured, with activities – profession-based and social – running from 9am to 10pm. 

“It’s very, very active, and there’s very little free time,” says Dr Maldonado. “Students who love to be busy love our programmes. But I tell educators and students: this may not be for everybody. If you’re the type of student who wants to take one class and then spend the rest of the time roaming around campus, you’ll be disappointed. There are other pre-college programmes that offer much more free time.”

Part of NSLC’s relationship-building process is to insist that every student who enrols in their programmes has been vetted in advance by staff at their school. Students will either be nominated by a teacher or counsellor, or they will ask their teacher to complete a recommendation form on their behalf. 

“If the counsellor says they’re not ready, we will deny admission into our programme,” says Dr Maldonado. “Or we will have to have a hard conversation with their family. We want to make sure we have the right students.”

Students on NSLC programmes work with high-profile professionals, such as surgeons, attorneys and CEOs. These course leaders provide simulation exercises: for example, students on the medicine programme work in a simulation lab in a hospital, using the same equipment as university medical students. On some campuses, they learn to intubate and suture patients. 

Kelsey Pearson, NSLC associate director of education-academic relations and a former high-school university counsellor, says, “I love it when they say, ‘You know what? After these nine days, I don’t think medicine is for me.’ That’s just as valuable.

“Then you can say: ‘What aspects did you like? What aspects didn’t you like? How can you move on to the next thing?’

“As a counsellor, I got a lot of calls from former students saying, ‘Can you help me? I’m going to apply to a different degree now.’ That’s a hard blow for students. Our programmes help students avoid that.”

Life skills 101

Recreation time is also built into NSLC courses. Students are taken on sightseeing excursions – in Washington, DC, for example, students visit Capitol Hill and the Smithsonian Institution – and older students are allowed to explore independently, in small groups. 

And they’re also able to experience life on campus: what Ms Pearson refers to as “Adulting 101”. “Can they do their laundry when they need to?” she says. “Are they getting enough sleep? Experiencing colder or warmer weather than they’re used to.

“But we’re also pretty supervision heavy. We keep our students safe.”

Importantly, the programmes also include a strong leadership component: internationally renowned leadership experts work with students on aspects of growth and development. “These are TED-style speakers who can captivate an audience really quickly with their charisma,” says Dr Maldonado. 

“Students are learning how to flex their personality to meet the needs of their audience. “They’re learning team building. Conflict-resolution skills. It’s just life skills 101 – those skills you often don’t get trained on in school.”

The leadership element comprises 50 per cent of the programme for middle-school students, and 25 per cent for high-school students.

“The career component is often what attracts students to our programmes,” says Dr Maldonado. “But leadership is why they say, ‘Best summer ever’. And counsellors say: ‘This child left really shy, and returned a whole new student.’ 

“A student can leave our programme thinking: after coming here, I now know that I don’t want to be an attorney. But I got some really useful life skills that I can use in my career, whatever it is.”

And, she says, this is the reason that students often return to NSLC for a second or third summer – thus building their own relationship with the organisation. 

“We have a very large cadre of alumni who are doing great work,” says Dr Maldonado. 

“If high-school students can learn about who they are and how they might be able to contribute to the world they live in, then that offers so much hope for humanity.”

Interested in attending the National Student Leadership Conference? Visit NSLC's frequently asked questions page to learn more.