"Because of an Educator" Campaign for Idaho Education Association

In a time when teachers are under more scrutiny than ever, IEA needed to communicate just how important the role they play in shaping society is. So, when tasked with garnering support for public educators, understanding the many, differeing and opposing views the public may hold about school teachers, I knew it was important, first and foremost, to make this message about what we all have in common. And that uniting experience, in this case, is the classic right of passage of a classroom, a hallway, and an educator that helped make us we are.

To illustrate this, we conducted a series of video interviews with famous Idahoans - like the governor, astronauts, and olympians - as well as regular citizens, and had them talk about how a teacher helped make them who they are today - not what they do, or what they've accomplished, but who are they are as a human being. Our questions focused more on the examples set by educators and how they instilled mindsets of confidence, curiosity, bravery, and empathy in them.

Starting each video ad with a "story submitted by" message, and ending each with a call to action for viewers to share their own stories, we encouraged the public to both remember their own great teachers, and therefore remember why it's important to support schools, and also to join in the campaign and spread the message in their own voice.

These stories, told in nostalgic classrooms of yesterday, were used as ads on bilboards, digital, television, and radio so that the people of Idaho could relate, respect, remember, and recount who they have become, and who we all can be, 'because of an educator.'

See more stories in the campaign at IdahoEA.org/share