We are JA

“We Are JA” was a video posted on JA’s social media accounts and has impacted this school in a number of ways. A lot of effort went into the making of this video, and the creators of this video deserve recognition.

Mr. Cloonan was just one of the hard-working individuals who played a huge role in the making of “We Are JA.” He shared that at the end of every school year, he and Mrs. Leoni sit down to talk about the past year’s marketing. 

“We knew that we had to design and produce some new long-form content for our website so that families who may be interested in JA can see what we’re all about,” Mr. Cloonan shared. “The video that we had was a few years old, so we were really hoping to produce something that captured the current vibe of our school and community, as well as being a marketing tool for our school.”

While Mr. Cloonan was in charge of the video, Georgia Miller and Emily Neptune, two sophomores here at JA, dedicated much of their time to creating the video.

“Mr. Cloonan came to us and said that, since we did a lot of short films and film classes in the past, specifically in the last year, we would be a good fit for it,” Miller stated.

The video was an extreme success, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t come with any challenges. Naomi Seiffertt, a freshman here at JA, was just one of the many participants in the video. She noticed how much coordination went into creating “We Are JA.”

“The main thing that went into the video, from what I saw, was trying to get the takes right with everyone saying what they needed to and being in the right place,” Seiffertt explained.

While coordination is a huge challenge when creating the video, there are many other challenges the creators went through that are worth noting as well.

“We had to create a lot of teasers before the actual film came out, which was difficult because that limited the time we had to make the genuine film that was the two-minute-long one,” Neptune shared.

So, what makes JA special and stand out from the rest? What does the phrase, “We Are JA,” mean, and why is it important?

“JA is special because of the people, specifically the teachers,” Seiffertt reflected. “Teachers put so much energy into teaching, and you can tell they love their job. That makes the students enjoy classes more and want to participate more.”