According to Fountain Hills Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sweeney, it all started with a simple idea: Get the word out about the local school district and what makes it unique.

From there the idea grew, and a truly community-driven project unfolded. Since the local district does not have a budget for marketing, MCO realty’s Steve Coover got to work on raising funds. To get the ball rolling early, Eric Pamer and the folks at Brokers Alliance decided to help Sweeney make some promotional videos free of charge. After that, students and parents were brought in to tell their stories and help create the videos.

So far, two promotional videos have evolved out of the project, as well as some flyers and mailers showing off what the district has to offer. While the videos are already live and will continue to be used through online marketing, the mailers will soon find their way into neighboring communities while local sites like real estate offices and the Community Center will receive updated fliers for FHUSD.

To see the videos, visit Youtube and search for “We choose Fountain Hills” and “FHUSD Parents – The opportunity is here.”

FHUSD

“The videos turned out so well,” said Sweeney. “It was great to see the students get involved, too.”

For the “We choose Fountain Hills” video, about a dozen students were involved in the process, from planning and organizing to actually being featured in the final product.

Sweeney said he was extremely pleased to see Brokers Alliance open the door to student participation, allowing a handful of Falcons to experience a process they could not have taken part in within a traditional classroom setting.

“The Brokers Alliance folks had the expertise and shared their talent with us, and we’re just so grateful,” Sweeney continued. “On top of that, Steve Coover has taken on the job of raising funds to continue the promotional part of this. He’s started to gather donations and he has no horse in the race other than he’s a citizen and a realtor who wants to see us succeed.”

Sweeney said he thinks it’s “kind of cool” to see all of these elements coming together from around the community to make this project a success. He said he does not wish to spend maintenance and operations funds on promotional measures for the district and, as a group, various individuals have figured out how to make the project move forward on its own.

Community

Eric Palmer said that Brokers Alliance was happy to get involved with the video project for FHUSD.

“We’ve worked with and been involved with the school district for the last couple of years and they know that we’re kind of a marketing company, so they reached out to us,” Palmer said. “They formed a committee and posed the question, how can we build the image of the Fountain Hills School District so that it recognizes one of the top places for education in the Valley?”

From there, Palmer said he thought that videos would be a sound option, getting short promotional clips in front of people where they spend much of their time on a daily basis, social media.

“We have a studio here, so we said, hey, let’s make some videos,” Palmer said. “From there, we thought, what would the students and the parents say about why they go to school here? I mean, they are the two decision makers when it comes to choosing if a student goes to school in Fountain Hills or somewhere else.”

From there, local parents and students were brought in to consult and brainstorm, resulting in the two videos now available online.

“Working with the students was really eye-opening,” Palmer said. “You tend to forget the freshness of the point of view you can get from them. I got to witness firsthand the creativity, thoughtfulness and the passion these students have, and I thought that was a really positive experience for myself and my staff.”

Student

Sam Aker, a FHUSD junior, was one of the students brought in on the video project to work alongside the professionals at Brokers Alliance.

Aker said that, over the summer, Principal Cain Jagodzinski reached out to some of his students about getting involved with the video project.

“We decided we’d share our stories about why we are in this district, rather than going somewhere else,” Aker said. “They like my story, so they asked if I’d be in the video, too.”

In short, Aker said he loves his school.

“After the brainstorming session, I realized this was something that could really help the school,” Aker said. “I’ve always liked this school, what it provides, the teachers, the band; I just enjoy all of the activities and the ability I have to get involved in a lot of things.”

That’s the message Aker and his classmates hoped to get across in the first video.

“Being a smaller school doesn’t mean it’s bad,” he continued. “We’re personalized. It’s a choice to go here. We offer something larger schools can’t offer.”

Future

Moving forward, Steve Coover said he hopes to help bring in enough funds to keep the promotional train rolling.

“Dr. Sweeney made a presentation at one of our sales meeting and mentioned they didn’t have any money for marketing,” Coover said. “I got him together with the folks at Brokers Alliance, one thing led to another, and we’ve got these videos now. We’ve got two now, and I know he wants to make some more.”

From additional videos to promotional mailers and info to circulate locally, Coover said he has already raised $300 from Sunset Kiwanis and $200 from MCO Realty.

“I’m trying to raise around $1,500, which isn’t a lot of money, really,” Coover said. “So we’re continuing to raise funds.”

For those interested in offering assistance or to get involved, Coover said he can be reached by phone at 602-206-0497 or by email at steve_coover@msn.com.