Sandra Irber, Director of College Development, defines the Fresh Look Project as
“A close look at all of the ways Skyline College communicates with its students and the world-the signage; publications such as the catalog, class schedule, flyers and posters; the website and more.”
The Fresh Look concept was presented to the College Council last spring and was later approved. Victoria Morrow, president of Skyline College, made it a point to have the Fresh Look Project on the top of her list when she came to Skyline College about 10 months ago. She felt the college needed to rise to its potential.
“Given that the place [Skyline College] is such a great place, there are so many great things going on here,” Morrow said. “But it’s like the signage, the posters, the website, & the publications don’t rise to the level they should to match that.”
According to both Irber and Morrow, an advisory group was set up to help in making decisions regarding the fresh look. The advisory group consisted of members of the faculty, administration, student population, and has representatives from the local community. Earlier in the fall, students had a chance to sign up for a focus group, in which their voice would be heard.
“We’ve conducted some student focus groups, so now the analysis of what the students said is being done,” Morrow said. “Those results will then be shared with our advisory group.”
The participation of the focus group included about 70 Skyline College students and the advisory group includes a group of Skyline College students.
Both Morrow and Irber stated that a consulting firm by the name of “Mission Minded” was helping to develop recommendations based on the focus groups, interviews conducted by Mission Minded, and a touring of the campus.
“They’ll [Mission Minded] give us some recommendations about how we might strengthen our communication tools,” Morrow said.
The Fresh Look Project has six phases; we are currently transitioning from Phase 3 [External Research] to Phase 4 [Research Analysis & Positioning Recommendations].
With the new project comes new ideas, and with new ideas comes change.
“A lot of good ideas about how we could improve have come forward,” Morrow said regarding the Fresh Look Project. “It’s going to help us be more in tuned into how students see the college, and that’s going to be beneficial all the way around.”