By Steve Sears

Elliott Honig, a Business Education Teacher at Pequannock Township High School since 2011, is always looking for new projects for his classes to do and ways to help promote, in his words, “the amazing things that happen within our school.”

He and the class came up with a nifty one. They created a school promotional video as part of a Marketing II class he teaches.

“In an effort to help promote our school the administration asked my class to see what they could come up with. We began the process and broke up into groups to work on different tasks. We were able to produce the video as well as an amazing brochure. As most of the assignments in that class, it is a student-driven assignment that revolves around tangible outcomes. It helps bring out and encourage their passions which makes for a better learning environment.”

Students are graded on a weekly basis based on their performance in the class. “It is a self-assessment that we then review and adjust based on the amount of work and effort that they put into their week,” Honig says. “I do my best to try and mimic what a real-world scenario would be like in the business world.”

The process began in early to mid-December. The students suggested various ideas, looked online for examples of what they liked and didn’t like, all the while keeping their target audience in mind. “Once we plotted out the general ideas,” says Honig, “we were able to put it to action. It was important to us that it was natural and wasn’t overly scripted. What you see is actually what you get.”

Honig makes it clear that Marketing II is not a video production class. “We utilize equipment that I personally have or, in the case of last year’s lip dub, (equipment) the students own. The end goal of the assignment is never to become a cinematographer, but to develop the marketer’s mindset on what goes into creating promotional material. The great part about it is that they learn both along the way.”  

Honig’s Marketing II class is also working on a project that is meant to help bring awareness to teenage problems, and they’ve reached beyond school walls for further education. “We have met with marketing executives from Atlantic Health who are helping us create content to bring awareness to topics such as stress and anxiety, body image, sports injuries, and a few more. In a few weeks, we are looking to launch a student-driven campaign for the site www.growstrongertogether.com.”

One thing is certain for Honig and his Marketing II students. “I am constantly working to bring experience to the students as part of this class. When I designed and implemented this course, I had a vision that it was going to be a course that student could bring something tangible to the table. They would be able to walk into a college or job interview and not just talk about something but show that they created something amazing. Our last year’s lip dub reached over 100k views. I have had over eight students create content on nationally recognized outlets. In the end, it helps them stand out and helps demonstrate the creativity and out of the box thinking that they are capable of.”

The video can be accessed via the Pequannock Township School District “News and Information” page.