The PeerForward team at Northeast High School in Philadelphia, Pa. is building the movement with creative new videos to boost their college-going campaigns in their high school. We spoke with the team’s Co-Social Media Manager, Peer Leader Jerry Noel, to hear more about their latest video’s inspiration and production.
In what is now their second year as a partner school, Northeast High School presents a challenge to its PeerForward team: with almost 3,000 students at the school, how might a team of 16 Peer Leaders best reach the entire student body with their message?
Using what he has learned in his high school cinematography class, Jerry Noel says he was inspired to use his hobby of filming and editing video to help the team reach more of their high school peers and spread their mission:
“This is our second year, so we wanted to push the team out more and push our mission out to everyone. With videos, students can see that we put the work in and that they do have someone in the school helping them. In the video I made sure to have certain scenes of, for example, someone helping someone else on the Common Application, so they can visually see that we’re here to help students.”
The Northeast High team attended the PeerForward summer workshop at St. John’s University this past summer, where Peer Leaders learned to tell their story and to recognize that the obstacles they have overcome have prepared them for higher education. Jerry describes the profound impact the summer experience had on his team and how it shaped their campaign approach:
“My team always says that it was emotional. I realized everyone had their own stories and problems they were going through. When we came back, we were all able to understand that everyone in the school is going through a unique situation, and if they’re falling behind on applications or haven’t started, there’s most likely a reason for it. It’s not because they’re lazy; something might be happening in their life. We have to understand that and encourage them to keep moving forward.”
With plans to study Computer Science and enroll in college next fall, Jerry is determined to keep using his video-making skills and his own experience submitting applications early this year to make sure more students at Northeast High School know that their PeerForward team is eager to help them get to college, too.
Catch the Northeast High School team in their inspiring video below:
