By Andrew Atwal

Published: Monday, July 16, 2012 12:55 AM CDT

Mount Marty College has recently announced several new additions to its student affairs staff — some of whom come from thousands of miles away.

Sister Mary Jo Polak steps into the role of director of campus ministry, after serving in other positions at MMC during the last few years.

Emily Johnson comes to MCC from the Minneapolis area, where she worked as a social worker. She will be the director of disability services and a residence hall director.

John “Jake” Kidney will also be a residence hall director. He is from the area, having just graduated from the University of South Dakota.

John Bennett will act as the student activities director at the college, which is a new position at the school. He previously worked at Ball State University in Indiana, and held a similar role at Florida Tech.

Meanwhile, Sarah Carda, the vice president of student affairs at Mount Marty, will be back for her 11th year on the job, and is the veteran of the group.

“I’m really looking forward to working with students in all different aspects,” Johnson said. “I think I’m prepared for the job and think it will be a fun adventure.”

Her biggest goal in her new job is making sure that students have good experiences in their residence hall. She added that she also wants to make sure students enjoy their whole experience on campus at Mount Marty.

Her role as residence hall director is similar to Kidney’s. Both will supervise resident assistants and manage activities in the residence halls, among other responsibilities. Johnson will also assist students that have a disability and make sure they do well in their academics.

“I’m excited to be here,” Johnson said. “Yankton is a pretty cool town.”

She added that she is still getting accustomed to the area and all of the services that are available to students.

“I really want to maximize community resources, along with what’s available for students on campus,” she said.

In addition to all of her job responsibilities, Johnson will also be living with her husband and son in the residence hall.

Kidney comes to MMC from USD, where he had served as a hall director, while finishing his master’s degree in educational administration.

“It might be a little bit difficult at first, since I was withdrawn from students at USD, to now be on a first-name basis with them,” he said. “I’m excited to get to know students and the campus.”

In addition to the roles that he and Johnson share, Kidney will also head up the Student Diversity Club on campus. He will act as an adviser to the club, and also help students put on programming in the residence halls.

“I’m really looking forward to students coming on campus,” he said. “There is a lot of energy and excitement that they bring with them.”

Bennett comes to MMC after serving in similar roles at schools in Indiana and Florida. He is in charge of orientation, student government, homecoming, family weekend and putting on events for students throughout the year.

“Because I had worked at bigger schools, it should be easier to get to know students here, which will be fun,” he said. “I’m really going to try to help enhance students’ experience outside of the classroom.”

One of Bennett’s biggest goals is increasing student involvement in on-campus events, and also generating trips and other activities for students.

“I’m going to try to create trips for events outside the area,” he said. “One trip I’m working on is a trip up to the Mall of America for students.”

Bennett added that such events will also help with student retention rates.

“Students are more likely to stay enrolled if they are involved on campus,” he said.

He said his office will always be open for students to come in and talk with him, and that he will be open to any trip or event suggestions that students might have.

Polak, the campus ministry director, had served in a similar part-time role during the last few years at MMC.

“My first goal is to keep up the good things initiated by our past staff,” Polak said. “My second goal is that campus ministry will help our MMC students grow into leaders in the Church, just as we want them to be successful in the profession that they are learning here.”

She added the most important thing that campus ministry can do for students is create a place for them to meet, know and love Jesus.

Her responsibilities include coordinating activities with other campus departments, finding opportunities for students that are not Catholic, and also working with campus faith-based groups, including the women’s spirituality group.

Carda said she is excited for the new staff surrounding her in student affairs.

“This is the first year since I’ve been here that we’ve had significant turnover,” she said. “It’s sort of like starting from square one.”

She added that it is sometimes difficult to find out-of-area candidates for positions at MMC because it can be difficult to recruit people to come to Yankton.

“The people that we have hired have really great background experiences,” Carda said. “They see student affairs as part of their career track, which is really nice.”

Carda said she is particularly excited to see the impact of the new full-time student activities director position, and the potential impact it could have on students at MMC.

“Bennett has a lot of great experience and maturity,” Carda said. “He wants to get students out and exposed to different things with his trip series idea, and we are fortunate he was willing to come here.

“The goal of student affairs is to serve students first and foremost,” Carda added. “We have to be open to what students want on campus.”

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal