the Pebble Spring 2017

already know.
“When the newspaper
prints stories
about how the school
might close … then
on the outside, people
think, ‘What’s going
on at that school?’
And so I saw [the
marketing campaign]
as a way for us to tell
them, ‘Hey, no, we’re
doing all right, you
know. This is still a
phenomenal school,
and we’re coming
back, and … the future’s
bright.”
The administration
tried to reach out
to faculty, students,
parents and alumni
through various meetings
and email communications to explain
the new campaign.
Dunaway met with employees on Dec.
22 to notify them of it, and on Jan. 4 an email
went out to alumni. With the new website
launched two days later, Neuner scheduled
separate meetings for parents and for students
in January. Around 25 to 30 parents
attended their meeting, and only one student
showed up for the student meeting, which
Neuner held anyway.
Other students, like senior Nick Jerge,
spoke with Neuner one-on-one about the
campaign. He said he understands the marketing
standpoint of the new colors being
more psychologically appealing and thinks
the marketing campaign is of a very high
quality. However, he wishes the school had
chosen options in which MPH didn’t adopt
different colors because he feels that the
change represents a shift in the school, one
that is gravitating away from a “red-andwhite
school.”
“[Ms. Neuner] said how people saw the
Farmhouse logo and they saw a school that
they didn’t know was open anymore, but I
thought that was really weird,” said Jerge,
who has attended MPH since Pre-K. “[The
Farmhouse is a] symbol that you can’t just get
Seniors Nate Barton (left) and Sophie Novak (right) discuss some school work in
the Phoenix Student Center.
rid of. … I’m a little concerned that we want
to purposely shift away from it.”
Many agree that the initial communication
was poorly conducted: the Pebble’s
survey found that two-thirds of respondents
said the changes were poorly communicated
and introduced.
As the Pebble reached out to Neuner with
questions about the campaign, she realized
that another explanation was necessary
through a second assembly presentation.
Some said the second presentation
changed their perspective, but others had
always liked the new colors, including parent
Jennifer Reid, whose child has attended MPH
for two years.
“I think it represents a rebirth or a renewal,”
she said. “[MPH] had gone through
kind of a rough patch for a while, and really,
everybody in the last couple of years put in a
lot of work to make the school whole again
and to really set a good foundation. … It’s
kind of a new start for MPH. … It reflects the
direction that the school’s going in right now.
I think the school is expanding and really
broadening its outreach.”
Junior Jared Amankwah said that though
he was confused at first, he likes the colors as
well and agrees they can usher in a new era
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