Marrs displays Christian passion in her admissions work
Staff writer
Cara Marrs' passion for living out her Christian beliefs is displayed in her commitment to Tabor as its director of admissions.
Cara was raised in Henderson, Neb., the oldest of four children born to Dexter and Donna Friesen of Carthage, Mo.
She graduated from Henderson High School in 1992.
"I was recruited by Tabor to play basketball," Cara said, "and I wanted to attend a Christian college."
So the decision to come to Tabor was an easy one for Marrs.
During her high school years, she was rather shy.
"I felt sort of out of place because of my Christian beliefs," she said. "Also I started over a few of the upper classmen in basketball and volleyball and that created some problems for me.
"I thought that what I stood for was not popular and I held back a little."
When she came to Tabor, she saw that there were others who had a similar belief. She attributes the freedom at Tabor to live by those Christian principles as why she is now outgoing and feels very comfortable and at ease.
"I'm not saying that Tabor is perfect, but I was able to stand up for what I believed, and I think I was respected for it," she said.
During her years at Tabor, Cara worked part-time as a typesetter at the Hillsboro Star-Journal for two years.
In 1995, she married Heath Marrs, while they were at Tabor.
"I had met him earlier when he and some other athletes came to speak to our high school group through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes."
Cara said that they went out with a group to eat, but she and Heath did not say much to each other. They were both kind of shy. Cara said a friend of Heath's remarked that Heath was going to marry her.
"My freshman year, we didn't even date, but in my sophomore year we did start to date. We were married the summer before my senior year of college," Cara said.
In 1996, she graduated from Tabor with a bachelor's of arts degree in business administration/economics-finance.
After Cara's graduation, the couple moved to Hays, where her husband attended graduate school at Fort Hays State University to receive his masters and specialist degree in psychology.
Cara began working as a customer service representative for Sunflower Bank in Hays. After three months, she became a consumer loans processor and later a commercial loans processor. After working at the bank for one and half years, she became assistant to the president for community banking of Sunflower Bank.
She worked for the bank for three years in Hays, until her husband finished graduate school.
In July of 1999, they moved to Wichita, where her husband was a school psychologist with the Sedgwick County Educational Cooperative.
Cara transferred and worked as a mortgage loan officer at Sunflower Bank in Wichita.
The couple lived there for one year when Heath was offered a position to fill a vacancy in the psychology department at Tabor.
"When making the decision to come back to Hillsboro, my love for Tabor and my love for the time I spent here were a plus," Cara said.
She did not like the idea of commuting to Wichita to work. So, she accepted the position as public relations director at Tabor and worked with Jack Braun, former vice president for advancement.
"That job included a lot of writing, and I wanted more contact with people," Cara said.
In the summer of 2001, she became coordinator of recruitment activities.
While on staff at Tabor, Cara was an assistant coach for track for two years.
"I really miss that," she said. "I stayed involved with the current students. In my job now, I work with prospective students."
On March 1, 2002, Cara was promoted to director of admissions.
Her duties include supervising four admissions counselors, a part-time campus visit coordinator, and an administrative assistant.
She also handles the paperwork and applications of new and prospective students.
"Basically, my job is to make sure there are students at Tabor," she said smiling.
Cara has a minimal territory of recruiting students for Tabor. She is responsible for Marion and McPherson counties and the Hesston College graduates.
She attends and supervises admission events such as college fairs and referrals to the college.
She attends various committee meetings. She is also responsible for mail flow, making sure letters are sent to students, and for the admissions budget.
Other duties include making contacts with Mennonite Brethren churches because Tabor is owned by the MB churches. She said her purpose is to generate students for Tabor.
"Current students are our best referral source," she said.
She and her husband are members of Parkview Mennonite Brethren Church where she serves as a MBY sponsor.
Cara has been a member of Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce board of directors for three years.
Her hobbies, when she has the time, include doing scrapbooking, exercising, and visiting with friends on the phone.
She said she is a fanatic about fixing up things, especially decorating the homes they've lived in.
She tries to attend as many Tabor athletic events as possible.
To finish out her list of hobbies, she and Heath love to travel.
"He's from California, and I was excited about that, because then I could go visit family and not have to go down the street or across town — we had to travel," Cara said.
According to Cara, Heath has been to 39 of the continental United States and she has been to 37. They made a three-week trip to Europe visiting six countries that included France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Germany.
"Heath loves to go places, and for me it's fun," Cara said. "I'm glad we have an opportunity to do that."
Heath will complete his doctorate next year, and the couple is uncertain about what is next for them.
"Tabor is where my heart is, but we will evaluate things then and see how God leads."
