NewsLab

Move over, Kardashians, reality television is coming to CSS! The new program will be called “Saint’s Life,” and will be used as a marketing tool.

Reality television has been steadily increasing in popularity since the 1990s and is a phenomenon with many different agendas.

Reality TV ranges from documentary to renovation to talk shows to hoaxes.  One area of reality TV that has yet to really be tapped into is marketing.

Molly Dekich, an intern for St. Scholastica’s marketing department, said that the marketing department was looking for a tool to try and get new students interested in coming to the school. Dekich said that the idea of a YouTube reality show came up, and thus “Saint’s Life” was born.

“Saint’s Life is a reality show to help people see what life is like at CSS,” Dekich said.

There will be seven cast members who will share their life at St. Scholastica by not only using a personal Flip camera, but also by having a professional film crew follow them to specific events. 

 Elise Pelletier, who is also one of the interns for the department and one of the “Saint’s Life” organizers of the student-run program, said, “ We’re not only using ‘Saint’s Life’ as a recruitment tool, but also to help get more students involved in the St. Scholastica community.” 

Jeffery Rich, the vice president of the marketing department at CSS, said that “Saint’s Life” is not only a marketing tool, but also an experiential learning opportunity for students. 

“’Saint's Life’ is a project our second-year student interns wanted to pursue and provides an enormous experiential learning opportunity,” Rich said.

 “My hope is the series goes well and we get video content that can be used to provide a true-to-life viewpoint on what it's like to be a student here,” Rich said. “That content can be used for marketing purposes across our web site, on our YouTube channel and across social media venues like Facebook and Twitter.”  

There have not been any other schools to do something like “Saint’s Life.” The closest that has been done is different shows by webisode and television that MTV has done.

However, the reality show format hasn’t been used as a promotional tool for the schools. These shows had a day-in-the-life of a college student, but each student was from a different school. 

According to most web sites it’s hard to find a college student who is willing to go on a reality show like this. It’s difficult to show what actual college students do in their spare time because it’s no surprise that a lot of it is illegal activity, such as underage drinking. For instance it would be unlikely for a football player to want to be filmed 24/7 for fear of violating NCAA regulations. 

“The goal is to shoot the duration of the fall semester and hopefully we will have seven new people next semester,” Pelletier said. “It is important for students to be excited about the show because the success of the show depends on the excitement of the Scholastica community.” 

Brenden Bradbury, a sophomore at St. Scholastica and one of the seven cast members for “Saint’s Life,” said, “I thought it would be fun for people to see how I live my life,” Bradbury said. “I really see the grind of balancing both hockey and studies.” 

Bradbury said by doing “Saint’s Life” he hopes he can show people who are thinking about coming to St. Scholastica a good impression. 

Abby Dawson, a senior and another cast member of “Saint’s Life,”. said she hopes to get students interested in St. Scholastica through the program. 

“The only thing I would be worried about is people thinking my life is boring,” Dawson said. “I’m really not boring!”  Dawson shouldn’t have to worry about a boring life since she said the students from the marketing department recommended she become a part of it.  “Everyone was really encouraging,” Dawson said. 

Both Bradbury and Dawson said their behavior will not change because cameras are around.  “Maybe I’ll clean my room more,” Bradbury said, “but probably not.”

The first episode of “Saint’s Life” aired on Oct. 7. Stay tuned as the episodes are scheduled to come out periodically throughout the rest of the semester.

Watch the first video below and click here to learn more about Saint's Life and watch the latest episodes!