kelsh-wilson-design-the-haverford-school-making-the-message-your-own-blog.jpg

Working with The Haverford School, an independent school for boys just outside Philadelphia, Kelsh Wilson helped create a campaign communications program that supported the development team in meeting their $50 million goal—and that captured something truly unique about Haverford.

Each year, eighth-grade boys at The Haverford School mark the end of Middle School with a transformative journey, the “Rite of Passage.” As part of this experience, they race dragon boats on the Schuylkill River and explore Philadelphia on a scavenger hunt. They spend the night aboard the USS New Jersey battleship then hike 12 miles back to campus, where the school community gathers to welcome them home.

As the Kelsh Wilson team noted in a brochure celebrating this tradition, “The experience teaches many lessons—among them, the power we have to reach ambitious goals with shared commitment.”

It’s a lesson of value both to eighth-grade boys and to all the members of the school community who were being called upon to help make Haverford’s fundraising campaign a success.

The publication featuring the Rite of Passage was titled “Marking Milestones,” part of a suite of materials including a case statement that Kelsh Wilson created to support Haverford’s $50 million campaign, Character at Our Core. The concept connected the milestones that eighth-graders mark in their urban adventure with midstream milestones the school was able to report in its campaign progress—from $34.9 million raised to 92 gifts of $50,000 or more.

Choosing the boys’ journey as a theme gave the brochure wonderful story quality and great photographic possibilities—injecting an added level of interest into the overview of campaign accomplishments. It also accomplished another important goal. By celebrating and finding meaning in a distinctively Haverford tradition, it made a statement only The Haverford School could make.

The brochure was a hit—and part of a family of communications that helped Haverford hit its goals and, among other priorities, build a stunning new middle school. The project illustrates an important truth when it comes to creative communications: The pieces you produce should reflect your institution’s distinctive identity, and the best, most reliable way to do that is by populating your communications with content uniquely your own.

We’ve all heard someone at meeting to review work in progress say this about an idea on the table:

“It’s great, but if you took our name off the cover, it could be any school.”

To this comment, the members of the seasoned but affable creative team at Kelsh Wilson have two answers:

1) By no means should you take your name off the cover. It’s simply self-defeating.

2) Wait until your pictures and people are on the page, telling stories only your school can tell.

Tell these stories well, and you will make a statement uniquely your own. You will show your audience the school they know and love and remind them exactly why. Just ask the team at Haverford.

THE HAVERFORD SCHOOL / PROGRESS REPORT