BENTON HARBOR — Lake Michigan College’s Marketing Department won Gold in the Video Shorts-Series category at the 2018 Paragon Awards hosted during the national conference of the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations March 24-26 in San Antonio, Texas.

The video series titled #MyLakeEffect featured 2018 LMC graduates in their caps and gowns reflecting on what they learned during their time at LMC. Each video is interspersed with a montage that reflected those personal journeys, ending with the new graduates saying “This is my lake effect, what will be yours?”

The series was shot, edited and created by Caroline Robinson, LMC’s multimedia specialist.

“We have used the phrase ‘the lake effect on the rest of your life’ in previous marketing campaigns, so I wanted to take that idea and flip it for this project,” Robinson said. “I asked the student graduates what effect they hoped to have on the community after they leave LMC. Their enthusiastic and authentic gratitude for the experience they had is what made the project a success. The students who participated in the campaign — I can’t thank them enough.”

The video series featured 2018 LMC graduates Shanekquia Bledsoe, Lionel Kanyowa, Jade Mosier, Chris Petty, Opeyemi Adesina, Alison Connor, Jaclyn Ayers, Ashlee Hall, Rodrigo Abarca, Dan Wainwright, Masahi Selioka, Brady West and Brianna Anthony.

“Our classrooms and communities are teeming with inspiring student stories. It’s such a gift to work with a creative team who is driven by finding new and interesting ways to shine light on them and share them with the world,” said LMC Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, Candice Elders.

NCMPR’s Paragon Awards recognize outstanding achievement in design and communication at community and technical colleges. It’s the only national competition of its kind that honors excellence exclusively among marketing and PR professionals at two-year colleges.

This year’s competition drew 1,939 entries from 262 colleges across the United States and Canada.