George School is an independent, coed, Quaker boarding and day high school located in Newtown, Pa. The site launch was the culmination of 22 months of, first, imagining what a new website for George School could be and then realizing that vision on the screen.
Work on the site began in earnest in May 2007 with a series of meetings with a Website Design Town Meeting on the first night of Alumni Weekend, when about 60 stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and others gathered to talk about their hopes for the School’s new web presence. Since then, many members of the George School community have participated in live intake sessions, conference calls, online surveys, virtual focus groups, and a test launch earlier in the week. mStoner partnered with George School on strategy, content development, design, video, testing, and buildout.
Ari Betof, George School’s director of enrollment management & strategic marketing, in an email to the community, remarked:
When you look at the site, I hope you like the design. I hope you find the structure easy to navigate. I hope you find the features useful and fun to play with. But much more, I hope you find yourself looking at a page that reminds you of South Lawn in the spring, of taking a really good class with your favorite teacher, or watching your advisee walk across the Outdoor Auditorium during graduation… AND I hope that you come to know that what will truly make the website a living reflection of George School is if it continues to grow and evolve (just as our community benefits from the arrival of each new member).
Michael Stoner Co-Founder and Co-Owner Was I born a skeptic or did I become one as I watched the hypestorm gather during the dotcom years, recede, and congeal once more as we come to terms with our online, social, mobile world? Whatever. I'm not much interested in cutting edge but what actually works for real people in the real world. Does that make me a bad person?