During the 2022-23 school year, recent graduate Meshach Mandel and senior Alicia Margalli became the brainchildren of a student-driven multimedia marketing campaign, Hometown in the City.

Meshach and Alicia started as finance committee interns reviewing financial data and enrollment trends, but conversations about marketing quickly surfaced, leading them to getting their minds and hands to work developing a marketing plan.

As part of the project, Meshach and Alicia reviewed responses of hundreds of St. Louis Park Public Schools families about what they love about their schools and what keeps them in the school district. The students then carefully crafted interview questions around the most common themes and invited parents, students, and staff to talk on-camera about their experiences in our schools.

The students participated in video storytelling and video production training with Captive Media, a video production partner of the school district, and provided their vision, guidance and feedback on the Hometown in the City official logo and post-production videos. They also presented their campaign strategy to the School Board last winter and in August, the first two Hometown in the City videos, a highlights reel and a behind-the-scenes video featuring the interns, were premiered at the all-staff rally event.

"This marking research is way to really show people that St. Louis Park is a good school [district] for your children. These interviews were a great opportunity to talk with people in the community," shared Alicia.

"It's been my way to leave my mark on St. Louis Park. I have something that can help St Louis Park and outlive me as a student," shared Meshach.

Each month in the SLP Communicator, we'll release a new Hometown in the City video featuring an SLP family, student, or staff member talking about what they appreciate about our schools and district. St. Louis Park Public Schools marketing and storytelling efforts are focused on sharing the voices and experiences of current families with the goal of retaining St. Louis Park Public Schools families. Our community and expect to see excepts from each Hometown in the City episode in newsletters and on social media.