Meet the Admissions Team

Hello! I’m Elise Bauer, Director of Admissions. I’ve been at C&C for many years and in a few different roles: VIIs teacher, Director of the Lower School, and now Admissions Director. I’ve witnessed the school make astounding growth and positive change during my time here, all the while remaining true to Caroline Pratt’s revolutionary guiding principles. I am proud to be a long-time contributor to one of the most historically significant schools in the world.

A Little About Me. I’m the mom of two teenage girls (one is Penelope, C&C ‘20, now at Putney). The other is Beatrice who is an art and world languages major in college. I like to read, paint, and binge-watch good (and bad) TV when I can. I collect clocks, shoes, and eyeglasses. One of my favorite activities as I try to stay in shape is boxing, and I have a set of silver gloves to prove it.

Why do you love your job? C&C has been a formative place for me. It has shaped my way of viewing the world and has inspired me to take risks, express myself, and question almost everything. I experience an enormous sense of support and community at C&C. The School attracts smart and interesting people—faculty, staff, families, visitors, you name it. And to participate in shaping that community through Admissions is fun and rewarding. 

What’s your favorite space on campus? There are many and it’s changed over the years as the School has grown. When I began at C&C in 1992, we had just three brownstones on 13th Street. Now we have seven back-to-back on 12th and 13th Streets, with the beautiful courtyards in between. 

I love the Library, of course, and the light-filled, high-ceilinged Art Room that inspires “oohs and ahhs” when people get their first glimpse. My favorite spot, though, is my office. It’s my quintessential home-away-from-home, where I meet families. We share a bit of ourselves with each other and begin the many-years’ connections that are at the heart of the C&C experience. It also helps that the 13th Street-facing windows are 12 feet high and there’s a lovely marble fireplace facade left from when the building was a residence in the 19th Century.

I truly hope you enjoy getting to know C&C as I have, and I look forward to helping you along the way.

Hi, I’m Erika, C&C’s Admissions and Enrollment Coordinator. I work closely with all prospective families to make the admissions process as seamless as possible. Most of the email communications you receive about the process will come from me. I’ve been at City and Country School since 2016 and I’m just as excited as I was when I started, as I am now for you to learn more about our school. 

A little about me: I’m the mom of a 12-year-old girl. When I’m not working, I spend most of my free time rock climbing. I also enjoy hiking, going to the beach, live music, and spending time in Vermont at my parents’ house. I’m pretty proud of my indoor plant collection; which became a hobby during COVID.

What’s your favorite space on campus? My favorite place on campus is the Art Room. It has beautiful natural light; you also get a great view of the campus and outdoor spaces. A close second is the music room because I get to hear the children playing their instruments

What’s your favorite Job in the C&C Jobs Program? This is a tough choice! It’s either between the XIIs/IVs Program or the XIs Printmaking for the School Print Shop. The XIIs/IVs program creates such a unique bond between two different age groups of children and seeing how they help each other is magical. It’s also incredible to see the children using a printing press from the 1890s to make attendance cards and stationery for the school-wide community.

I am Admissions and Parent Engagement Coordinator, which means I see families through the process of applying to City and Country and, once they have joined, taking their place in the parent community. Before becoming a member of the staff, I was Co-President of the Parent Association, a job that made me see what a benefit it is to the life of the school for families to have social and service connections. City and Country allows us all to learn along with our kids; the ways children and teachers pursue educational goals in our progressive model stimulate parent curiosity. Caroline Pratt’s declaration “I learn from children,” signals an opportunity to experience the workings of a school that is, I believe, unique, or at least very rare.

Before coming to work at C&C, I spent 23 years as an English professor, specializing in women’s and multicultural literatures. I often taught A Room of One’s Own, in which Virginia Woolf describes what a bounty adequate space and time–freedom–is to the creative person. This was a great preparation for understanding City and Country. Creating the conditions in which children best learn and families thrive is what we do.

Welcome to the admissions process. I can’t wait to meet you.

A little about me: Sometimes these bios contain things like fun facts and lists of hobbies. Okay, a fun fact is that since the barber shops were closed last spring, I ordered a pretty good set of clippers and my daughter Penelope, who is now an VIII and joined City and Country seven years ago in the afternoon IIs, got pretty good at a basic crew cut. We estimate the annual savings to be about as much as it costs to feed the new puppy who came to live with us after Penelope wished hard for him year after year. We named him Zoom because, you know…

What’s your favorite space at C&C? My favorite room is my colleague Sarah Whittier’s classroom, with its student drawings of urns and heroes on the wall. The XIIs study Ancient Greece, and, like the poet John Keats, I am fond of thinking about my first time reading Homer. But the reason I love Sarah’s room is because it hosts the City and Country Debate Club. I am co-coach of C&C Debate with Sarah, and the President of the New York Public Debate League, to which C&C belongs. To be along for the ride as the fifth- through eighth-graders learn to research, build arguments, and speak in public–a task that ranks higher than death on the list of what most people fear–is a tremendous privilege. I didn’t quite get enough time in the debate rooms of my high school and college, so being around as coach while C&C takes its place as one of the strongest debate schools in the city is thrilling.