Student Engagement Hits Home
In HELP’s Citizenship & Leadership courses, we teach students to observe critically, find situations that can be improved, and create solutions that incorporate assets that are already available to the community. Isaac Pierre (accounting ’22) did not have to look far! “I saw how much HELP spends to get quality multimedia services each time it’s needed."
"We thought it would be better for HELP to have its own multimedia studio, run by an in-house team.”
With some help from the HELP Development Office, Isaac and a few classmates organized basic training sessions in photography, graphic design, videography, editing, and sound for 18 students in the fall.
Following these trainings, the team was up and running. Isaac says, “We offer several types of services such as: photography, graphic design, videography, video editing, and sound engineering. These services are available for students, staff, and alumni for requests strictly related to HELP activities. Members of the HELP community can make a request on our internal database. The multimedia intern who works in the development office reviews the requests with the development staff and confers with the Konbit team to see who is available to provide the requested service.”
A Konbit Multimedia training meeting
One of the team’s biggest accomplishments is a video created to cap off HELP’s 25th anniversary celebrations in December. “We made it with HELP’s multimedia consultant, local photographer and videographer Marc Nahume Leandre. The videos took a full day to record, and then Nahume spent a night editing footage from HELP’s recent graduation ceremony to get it ready to include. Students had a beautiful moment in one of the dorms watching the video to celebrate HELP's 25th anniversary together.”
The Konbit team also created a donor thank-you video directly from their sponsored student. Isaac says, “The donor really appreciated it and it spurred increased donations to their memorial scholarship fund. This is a proof of success for us, it means that we can do a lot."
"We are just starting out, most of us just started using camera equipment, but the reason the studio was created is to help HELP attract more funds and to make HELP more known, so that more young people like us can have this wonderful opportunity.”
After a strong start this year, the Konbit team already has its eyes set on the future. With members from a variety of class years and ten different fields of study, sometimes it’s hard to keep a group engaged for the long term. Konbit Multimedia has formalized the group as a committee under the student council and Konbit’s leader will have a formal internship position in the HELP development office. These steps are designed to help ensure the stability and sustainability of the group after the current leadership graduates. In the meantime, Konbit plans to recruit new members in the fall and is working on building out its audio offerings. “In the studio,” Isaac explains, “we are planning to have a structure for online lectures in addition to an online radio that is already created via Zeno. This will help expand HELP's audience to attract more donors and friends to be able to fund more students and make more people be aware of the program.”