Boarding School by the Ukrainian Leadership Academy

The Ukrainian Leadership Academy is an institution that, since 2015, has been providing young people and active community members with access to transformational education that unlocks their potential and strengthens their social impact. Ukrainian Leadership Academy implements a number of programs and projects, including:

• a 10-month formative program for teenagers aged 16–20;

• educational camps for teenagers;

• the international LET program for educators, managers, and strategists in the field of education;

• large-scale social projects in Ukraine and abroad.

Across Ukrainian Leadership Academy four campuses — in Kyiv, Lviv, Uzhhorod and Ternopil — more than 130 participants are currently studying. Over 10 years, ULA has graduated 1,450 young people and reached over 300,000 participants through various projects.

This year, Ukrainian Leadership Academy launched a new project — a boarding school. It is a two-year educational program for high school students that includes academic studies for grades 10–11 at a partner lyceum, as well as elements of ULA’s formative program.

Task

• Build awareness of Ukrainian Leadership Academy boarding school and strengthen trust in the program.

• Use influencers to talk about the program and explain its details.

• Motivate parents of 9th graders to submit an application.

Execution

PR campaign in media

• Publications in 8 regional and specialized media outlets.

• Telegram: 25 posts in channels (both paid and unpaid placements).

Total media reach amounted to 510,000 users.

Influencer collaborations

• 21 influencers were engaged in the campaign.

• Total reach across collaborations — approx. 670,000 users.

The key goal was to secure as much unpaid support as possible, focusing on the educational and transformational mission of the Ukrainian Leadership Academy and the boarding school specifically.

SMM and content promotion

• The SMM component helped warm up the audience and further explain the boarding education format: social media reach totalled 422,927 users.

Results

Around 90 submitted applications, meeting the initial expectations.

After the first application stage, applicants had to send a video introduction. Out of all applications:

• 77% of students sent a video;

• 52% of students received a positive evaluation of their video and academic achievements, and Ukrainian Leadership Academy invited them to sign a contract.

Conversion to contract signing reached 73%.

We demonstrated that, with the right strategy and partnership, an educational project with a social mission can achieve high media visibility and strong results with a moderate budget.