Empowering Through Education: Assistant Director Nikki Schwarz Presents the Northeast Experience

As Nikki Schwarz knows, first impressions are vital. That’s why, in her role as assistant director of admissions for the chiropractic program, she has become passionate about telling the #NortheastBlue story to prospective students. 

“As someone who has had many different jobs, I love the idea of helping people get on the right career path—which led me to admissions,” Schwarz said. 

Joining the College in 2021, Schwarz initially worked as an admissions counselor for the Doctor of Chiropractic program. “I had a pool of students I worked with one-on-one and a territory of schools to travel and present to about Northeast,” she said. “Seven months later, I was promoted to my current role.”

Now, she oversees and supports a team of counselors and trains and supervises student ambassadors, while also assisting with strategic management efforts in the admissions department.

Those efforts often lead to events that sound, well, fun. “For example,” she says, “in the spring trimester we turned our campus tour into a Visit Experience which included a student-led campus tour and lunch with a faculty member. Visitors meet with their admissions counselor, and we send them home with brand new Northeast College swag!”

Schwarz finds it easy to convince students of the value of the Northeast experience, because she has seen it first-hand. 

“The small size of Northeast creates such a tightly knit community. I felt welcomed from day one. There is a lot of collaboration, which I enjoy. The staff and faculty are passionate about what they do and are completely dedicated to the students. Everything done here is with the intent to make the Northeast College experience better for the students.”

Schwarz previously worked as an administrative coordinator for the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, where she currently lives. She has also worked as a self-employed instructor for wellness and development workshops, teaching groups about life balance, communication, and personal growth. “Wellness and personal growth are extremely important to me, and I’ve even created and led workshops about those topics,” she says.

Currently, she is working on ideas to make it even easier for potential students to get a sense of the Northeast community. Recently, for example, she purchased professional gear for tour guides to wear so that they are more visible and able to answer questions asked by visitors. Having earned her MBA in 2022 from Fitchburg State University, she is eager to bring even more best-practice skills to her work at Northeast. “I’ve put so much of what I was taught into practice within my job and my life,” she says.