The objective of this video is to highlight the Ponelopele Oracle Secondary School by showcasing the stories of the students, and how their education has changed their lives. From watching this video, Oracle employees shared the sentiment of feeling inspired and proud to be working for Oracle. Also, another objective of this video is to showcase some of the great work Oracle does to our fans, customers, and partners on social media and to drive awareness for the school and our education programs.
Oracle employee Kristen Schweizer found this story from a colleague who had been involved in donating books to the Ponelopele Oracle Secondary School.
It is a truly amazing story: Children coming from one of the poorest areas of South Africa and going on to far exceed not only expectations of the communities they came from, but becoming one of the top public schools in Johannesburg. The fact Nelson Mandela asked Oracle to build this, and Oracle did, and seeing the outcomes was inspiring, and hopeful. The story resonates inside and outside of Oracle.
What was also amazing is that few people outside Oracle South Africa knew Oracle even built this school!
In the video, the focus was mainly on female students. STEM subjects are not often pursued by girls and here Ponelopele was graduating females who want to design software, become an astro physicist, doctor, vet, and more.
After Kristen formally pitched the school with a story narrative and outline, they agreed. Kristen and Brendan (Oracle employees) continued with calls to sort out times, locations, a list of candidates to speak to, etc. Brendan sourced a local camera crew to work with them and they spent a week filming in and around the school. The main girls featured in the film only were decided after Kristen could sit with them and have a chat, and hear more about their stories.
Kristen's favorite parts were walking in the streets with the girls, as she felt they got a good sense of the communities they leave behind when they step inside their school. One student in the video shared that transition is like walking from one chapter of her life into one filled with hope and opportunities.
The video performed very well on our social media channels, specifically on Facebook. It performed above average for our organic posts, resulting in over 8,500 video views. The video met our teams goals as it was a successful video that showed the stories of students in South Africa who were grateful to their education and how the Ponelopele Oracle Secondary School has helped shape their lives for the better.
