The client
The International School of Amsterdam is a premier IB school in the Netherlands. They run events families look forward to all year, and graduation is the big one.
The problem
Covid forced them to cancel the on-site graduation that families attend in person, with less than a month to find another way.
They needed a last-minute platform to host a live virtual graduation, a simple way to collect each student’s materials (videos, photos, bios), and a place for families to reach the recordings and school-branded pages afterward.
What I did
The plan was a site the school’s own staff could load, fast. I built it on Squarespace, since the team already knew it and could jump in and add content without a learning curve.
- Built to their brand guidelines
- A simple way for staff to upload each student’s content
- Several page types to house the graduation materials, for the celebration and after it
- All the IT handled (domain, hosting, integrations) so the school’s IT department didn’t have to get involved
Where it landed
After a 10-day sprint, the foundation was ready for staff to fill with content.
The virtual graduation was a hit. Families around the world cheered their graduates on, and it felt like a win over the lockdowns.
- Two graduations run on it, and counting
- Families loved celebrating the moment together
- The virtual site became a keepsake alongside the paper yearbook
- The communications team found it easy to keep updated