Stump Speech

A “stump speech” is in many ways an extended version of an elevator pitch — given a few minutes of an audience’s attention, the speaker should take that opportunity to inform and persuade the audience about the merits of his or her institution. The speech should be anchored in the brand pillars, seeding those terms in the audience’s mind and briefly expanding on them to provide the proper context.

More than just opening doors for students, NOVA is a SPRINGBOARD TO OPPORTUNITY. We help launch students forward to a variety of exciting opportunities, some they may not even yet envision for themselves – like transfers to their dream schools, new careers, lucrative promotions, and financial security for their families.

Those opportunities are evolving. Today’s college grads will hold 12, maybe 15 jobs across multiple fields by the time they retire and given how fast industry and technology change, some of those jobs don’t even exist yet. NOVA is anticipating those shifts, staying nimble, honing industry-RELEVANT programs that produce graduates who are IN DEMAND.

Those programs are led by faculty who are EXPERTS IN THE CLASSROOM AND IN THE FIELD. NOVA has exceptional teachers, many of whom have years or even decades of experience in their fields, so their teaching is flavored with practical, real-world insights their students appreciate and trust.

And those faculty take a caring, personal approach to teaching in small classes that are much more akin to a “small school” than what you might expect at a multi-campus institution that’s 90,000 students strong. NOVA offers a BIG SCHOOL EXPERIENCE  — big programmatic variety, big resources and services, big platforms to make a difference – but flavored with a SMALL SCHOOL FEEL.

The NOVA community is not just caring, it’s also as diverse as the region whose name we share. That diversity is more than just a demographic fact, it’s a critical part of the NOVA educational experience, as students of different ages, different cultural backgrounds, different perspectives teach one another to navigate and appreciate the REAL-WORLD DIVERSITY that will characterize their communities beyond NOVA.

And you get all this at an OUTSTANDING VALUE. NOVA is our region’s top-value institution, helping students save thousands in tuition and avoid the mountains of loan debt plaguing today’s generation. Whatever your goals or your circumstances, NOVA is a smart and valuable choice that will bring tremendous returns for your finances and your future.

Put simply, at NOVA, we have no interest in imitating other schools or doing what community colleges have always done. We’re building something else entirely, a bold new approach to higher education so that our students are well-prepared to achieve their dreams with boldness and confidence.