Storm King School sits atop Storm King Mountain on the Hudson River, just an hour north of NYC. It’s a part of the country imbued with hundreds of years of American history. On director Ben Strang’s first visit to Storm King School, he was asked if he could communicate this legacy to the school’s now ultra-successful alumni base. The task? A single piece of branded content to break the school’s fundraising record. And do it without heavy numbers talk or statistics chat. His strategy was simple, and one that nobody on the school’s team was talking about; ‘we set out to remind supporters of the cherished memories that formed at the school decades ago, but seen through the eyes of the new generation.” If Strang and his team could to that, the school posited, we could inspire alumni involvement in fundraising efforts for decades. Giving comes from the heart, after all.  Connect the hearts of the school’s support network to the heart of the school itself and you’ve done a lasting, worthwhile thing.

To do so, Strang knew he needed to find a person at the school who truly represented the soul of the institution — both to the current generation of students and to past generations. “As creative directors and storytellers in the constantly shifting landscape of advertising, we knew that we couldn’t play this one safe,” says Strang. “Tried and true scripts weren’t going to work. To break through to our audience, we needed to find a truly great subject–a natural storyteller whose authenticity would do the hard work for us.”

John Carruthers was just that person. His Storm King story is one with deep roots and broad branches—a story that resonates with students past and students present. In the end? Strang’s film was responsible for the success of a massive, $30M fundraising campaign at Storm King.