Keeping It Personal

Tiffany Falcon loves her job and her school.

Tiffany Falcon is happy to be a sophomore nursing major at Southwestern, and is doubly happy with her job as a Southwestern recruiter. But she’s learned that often recruiting is more than just saying great things about your school. What makes an effective recruiter is what comes from the heart.

A native of Keene, Falcon had plans to go to another Adventist college, but she felt something was off. “So I prayed about it and I ended up coming to Southwestern,” says Falcon. “Because it felt right. I know I’m going to go other places eventually, so why rush out of the house? Home is a good place to be.”

In addition to taking on a new job as an enrollment counselor, Falcon also applied and was accepted for summer work as a counselor at Sunset Lake Camp in Wilkeson, Washington. At camp during teen week, Falcon sat with her girls and told them they could ask her anything. She wasn’t expecting the question that came next. When did you get baptized? So she told them. She didn’t get baptized until she was 12. She felt called before, but waited because she felt like she needed to be perfect.

“Then I realized that getting baptized isn’t about that. It’s about walking towards perfection with God’s help because you can’t get there without Him,” says Falcon. “The rest of that summer, my theme was: Trying To Get Rid of My Perfectionist Self.”

Later that night, one of her girls told her she had decided to get baptized. The girl had been dealing with the same thing Falcon had dealt with. In fall semester, during a recruiting visit to Auburn Adventist Academy, Falcon got to see the girl again after she had been baptized.

“In enrollment, we get asked what Southwestern does for you spiritually and here’s what it did for me,” says Falcon. “At Southwestern, I got to this point where I started making Jesus personal. My relationship with God transitioned from being my parents’ beliefs to become my own beliefs. I know what I believe and why I believe it and I make decisions based on what I think, not because of someone else.”

Falcon feels that part of what makes her good as a recruiter is being familiar with the campus, but at the same time, she continues to learn more about Southwestern every day.

“Some people who have lived here all their lives say that they already know everyone on campus and everything about the school,” says Falcon. “But that’s not true. I didn’t know half the people here or what went on. It’s really different as a student on campus. You’ve got to try it before you can judge it.”

Already, Falcon has been going to different places because of her job as a Southwestern recruiter. “I remember as a student at Chisholm Trail Academy that some staff had asked a friend and me to go do a presentation at the local elementary school and it was kind of a recruiting one,” says Falcon. “I loved it. I loved talking to people about my school.”

That led Falcon last year to sign up to be an ambassador for Southwestern’s annual basketball tournament. She did such a good job that Falcon filled out an application at enrollment to work as a recruiter and got accepted.

After graduating, Falcon intends to go on to study to be a physician’s assistant. “I’m pumped to be a nurse. It’s my stepping stone for now. I know I’ll be able to help people a lot and go on different trips and serve,” says Falcon. “I’m not really cut out for preaching, but I like to show through example. So if I can help a person feel better and show Christ while doing it, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Share this: