Chosen because the Perkiomen School won Gold for Single Blog Post in the 2021 Brilliance Awards. Bernadette Kovaleski tells InspirED the backstory on the College Counseling project.

Start with Strategy

Perkiomen School sought to bring attention to the work and successes of their students while emphasizing the importance of balancing hard work and detail-oriented results, all while having fun in the process.  

“So much of the college process is focused on the end results,” says David Antoniewicz, Director of College Counseling. “But we want our students to be able to celebrate the milestones along the way and stay motivated through a process that is assumed to be highly stressful and difficult.” Perkiomen debunks that myth in this blog and incorporates the joy students capture along the way.

Execute The Plan

The team at Perkiomen collected bits of the media over the course of the fall as part of their Instagram series celebrating application submission. “In our desire to mark the major November 1st milestone and deadline,” says David. “We conceptualized, filmed, and edited the accompanying video over the course of two days. Writing the post came together quickly because we only needed to articulate the how and why of the work that we do.”

It took another day to assemble all the pieces into the website, but this project “developed on its own natural timeline” and came together very quickly for Perkiomen. Because it was done in-house, there was no specific budget for the project.

The team used Instagram’s Boomerang app — a stop-motion simulator — to create the College Counseling videos. (In early 2022, Instagram pulled Boomerang from app stores.)

Make An Impact

The blog post went viral in the Perkiomen School community for different reasons.  

The students loved the fun of the video and seeing grown-ups in their lives acting silly. The parents and families of students were able to understand why the school works the way it does, and it helped to establish the College Counseling office as trustworthy collaborators. 

Externally, the post helped prospective students and families see another side of the school and a different piece that they might connect with. “As we have built our Instagram Boomerang series over the last three years, the blog highlighted a growing tradition that connects our students with our alumni and allows all alumni to feel connected to their alma mater,” says Keegan Ash, Associate Director of College Counseling. 

This post represents the philosophies and personalities of Perkiomen’s staff, office, school community, and institution as a whole. It is a perfect example of their brand voice in action, resulting in different engagements and take-aways from different constituents.  

Garner Praise from Leadership

Mark A. Devey, Head of School at Perkiomen, had this to say about the project.

“At Perkiomen School, we are fortunate to have three talented, humorous college counselors that take their jobs seriously and know to have fun. Their office echoes our school’s supportive, nurturing culture and seizes every opportunity to reinforce that it is the student who must drive the process and that each step is important, including self-reflection, goal setting, and time management. There is no quick way to do it; no cheat code to get to the end. The depth of knowledge our team has helps our students find not just the top-ranked school, but the right fit. The culmination of this process comes when the student decides what path to follow after commencement, having the courage and support to outline their unique path to success.”

Advice for Others

“Be authentic,” David notes. “This project came together quickly and seamlessly because it reflects our office being who we are — celebrating philosophy and process over results.”  

The College Counseling office has the support and encouragement of the campus community — especially senior administration — to be able to take risks and be silly and those pieces align with the school’s brand position and voice. They can be genuine, mission-focused, and have fun, all at the same time. 

If they were to do it again, the team would have used more content and footage when putting together the video and filmed more than what they needed, particularly when it came to editing the pieces together.

Congratulations, Perkiomen School! You are brilliant.

TEAM
David Antoniewicz, Director of College Counseling
Keegan Ash, Associate Director of College Counseling
Erin Davidson-Kellogg, Associate Director of College Counseling
Bernadette Kovaleski, Director of Marketing & Communications

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