{"id":103,"date":"2025-10-04T15:00:53","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T19:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/colindarling\/?p=103"},"modified":"2025-11-28T09:50:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T14:50:05","slug":"matrix-to-mission-my-commitment-to-digital-storytelling-at-hts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/colindarling\/2025\/10\/04\/matrix-to-mission-my-commitment-to-digital-storytelling-at-hts\/","title":{"rendered":"Matrix to Mission: My Commitment to Digital Storytelling at HTS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Eisenhower Matrix has a way of revealing uncomfortable truths. As I sorted my work into urgent versus important quadrants, a pattern emerged that I suspect many of us recognize: my urgent work rarely appears in my actual job description, while my most important work\u2014the legacy-building, culture-shifting work\u2014gets swept under the rug.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s what surprised me most: the work that keeps calling to me isn\u2019t just professional development. It\u2019s personal completion.<\/p>\n

The Gap That Demands Attention<\/em><\/h4>\n

At HTS, there\u2019s a disconnect that\u2019s been nagging at me. On one side, we have families and alumni who have \u201cseen the light\u201d\u2014they understand the transformative power of an HTS education while they\u2019re experiencing it. On the other side, we have those who never fully grasp the blessing they\u2019ve received, or worse, never come to understand it at all.<\/p>\n

The result? Families paying tuition without understanding where their investment goes. People who love HTS deeply but don\u2019t know how to channel that love into lasting legacy.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s missing is education\u2014not just about our status as a registered charity, but about the profound impact their contributions make. We\u2019re missing the stories that make the invisible visible.<\/p>\n

My Thread: Digital Storytelling for Cultural Transformation<\/em><\/h4>\n

Among all the interconnected pieces of this challenge, one thread pulls at me most strongly: creating digital storytelling that educates, empowers, and motivates donors to see themselves as change makers in the HTS community.<\/p>\n

I envision a series of video testimonials\u2014relatable, candid, and raw\u2014that live both on our school\u2019s social media and on the new donor wall we\u2019re installing in the new year. These won\u2019t be polished marketing pieces, but authentic conversations with current parents and alumni who can speak their unfiltered minds about why they give and how it helps our school grow.<\/p>\n

Picture this: someone walking past our donor wall and suddenly hearing a real person\u2019s authentic story about their journey from loving HTS to understanding how to channel that love into action. That moment of connection between digital story and physical space\u2014that\u2019s where transformation happens.<\/p>\n

My Declaration of Intent<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

This work feels like the legacy I want to leave at HTS as an alum who acknowledges how much this school did for me. I want HTS to be a place where people don\u2019t just think about the future of educational environments\u2014they do something about it.<\/p>\n

My commitment for this year is clear: I will build our capacity for digital storytelling that transforms culture. This month, I\u2019ve started by identifying current parents that are alumni who volunteer and donate\u2014those who are living the story right now, watching their own children benefit while actively contributing to that future.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just about donor education. This is about completing my own circle of gratitude by helping others discover theirs. It\u2019s about becoming the bridge between people\u2019s love for HTS and their understanding of how to channel that love into lasting impact.<\/p>\n

The urgent work will always be there, demanding attention. But the important work\u2014the work that builds legacy and transforms culture\u2014that\u2019s where I\u2019m choosing to focus my creative energy this year.<\/p>\n

Because when someone watches one of these stories and thinks, \u201cI want to be part of this legacy,\u201d that moment of connection will honour everything HTS gave me by helping others discover everything they can give back.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s my thread. That\u2019s my commitment. That\u2019s how I\u2019m choosing to make change this year.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

Heading into our second Cohort Session, the power that this kind of curated, visual content holds has never been more apparent to me. Recently, I stood up in front of our grade 12s and talked to them about legacy, something I\u2019ve done every year when asking them to consider what kind of HTS alum they hope to be.<\/p>\n

And in that presentation, we layered in a video from a graduate of last year\u2019s class who was a recipient of financial aid. He was the type of kind, put together, model student who everyone gravitated towards and he agreed to speak candidly about not only what financial aid gave him at HTS, but also what he might have lost without it.<\/p>\n

Now this video wasn\u2019t edited, no name key graphic, no music. Nothing but a selfie video of a community member who was more than keen to, in his words, \u201cdo anything [we] need[ed]\u201d of him to give back to the community he grew up in.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t change my declaration of intent or the kind of output I hope to produce, but it might change some of the language around my \u201chow might we\u201d question. I think now it needs to acknowledge that everyone has a story, a connection, a thread to contribute to the cause. All you have to do is ask those that have a pulse on the community, those that have trust.<\/p>\n

Because trust is everything in independent schools. Trust that we care and see each and every student for who they are and who they\u2019re becoming. Trust that we are caretakers of all those that came before us (students, staff, parents) and the history they wrote. And most importantly in my case, trust that the time, treasure and talent our community decides to pour back into our community will be stewarded and invested back into the school in ways that maximize value for all involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Eisenhower Matrix has a way of revealing uncomfortable truths. As I sorted my work into urgent versus important quadrants, a pattern emerged that I suspect many of us recognize: my urgent work rarely appears in my actual job description, while my most important work\u2014the legacy-building, culture-shifting work\u2014gets swept under the rug. But here\u2019s what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":512,"featured_media":104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/colindarling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/colindarling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/colindarling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/colindarling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/512"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/colindarling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/colindarling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/colindarling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions\/108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/colindarling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/colindarling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/colindarling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/colindarling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}