Enrollment at Mennonite Collegiate Institute is trending upward. Student numbers at the private school in Gretna had fallen off significantly over the past few years.

A concerted effort by the board and administration has been made over the past year or so to raise those numbers, and according to Principal Bernie Loeppky, that work appears to be paying off.

"Right now we are at 64 students. We'd like to be at 70 this year, and we may get there yet as there are always some students that register late. Also, half of our student body is made up of new students and we also have more of them in the residence, which is also very good for us."

Loeppky says efforts by MCI to recruit foreign students from China seems to be gaining traction and could help bolster their numbers in the years to come.

School representatives made a trip to China earlier this year as part of that foreign student recruitment drive.

"I just hosted a group of Chinese students several weeks ago who came to tour the school. They were in that grade 7 and 8 age and were very interested and we have a couple of students in our building right now. Actually, we have 15 international students at MCI this year."

Loeppky feels international students bring a fresh perspective to MCI by helping students from Canada see that the world is a much larger place than southern Manitoba, and helps to create a unique dynamic for the school.

"I'm very optimistic about the future for MCI. We still need to keep working at it. Whereas, in the past, kids just came in the door through word of mouth, we need to be more intentional about recruitment, and fundraising and in connecting with our constituency. We are working hard at those things and I think we have a great group of people behind us."