Touring Elementary Schools Safely During a Pandemic

Within the Cincinnati suburbs of Bulter County, Ohio, is a school “as unique as your child, with an emphasis on academic excellence, spiritual growth, and a commitment to community service.”

Welcome to Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School (MTCES), where K-8 students learn everything from the sciences to effective communication skills to prepare them for excellence in high school, higher education, and beyond.

Working with a modest budget, the school recently incorporated Matterport 3D scans into its marketing and crisis management efforts to allow prospective families and students the ability to explore incredible spaces, including kindergarten classrooms, science, and technology labs, and the Sister Anne Schulz Student Center featuring two athletic courts, a theatrical stage, kitchenette, and more.

We spoke with Noel Balster, Director of Marketing & Advancement at MTCES, to learn how Matterport 3D models enable parents and students to tour the campus from afar during the pandemic.

Q: What inspired the 3D capture of Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School**?** 

Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School (MTCES) is independent of a parish and therefore must execute a robust marketing and enrollment strategy to attract prospective families. An important part of that is making prospective students feel at home by bringing them on campus for tours, shadow days, and events. COVID-19 significantly restricted that activity. The 3D capture is an excellent way for MTCES to give viewers a sense of our campus remotely.

Q: How have school faculty, parents, and children been able to use the 3D models of the schools? 

All members of the MTCES community serve as ambassadors. We share the 3D models with them so that they can pass them along to family members, friends, neighbors, etc. who want to learn more about the school. Word of mouth marketing coupled with video has been effective for us.

Q: What are the “must-sees” you want visitors to explore and why? 

The spaces highlighted in the virtual experience demonstrate MTCES’ commitment to developing the whole child. One model displays our state-of-the-art science lab, which illustrates our emphasis on incorporating STEAM into our curriculum.

Visitors can also explore our student center which houses two sports courts and a large full functional stage. Each of our kindergarten homerooms has two learning spaces. One space is a traditional classroom and the other is designed with learning centers that provide kindergarteners with hands-on learning activities at a variety of themed stations designed for small groups including math, literacy, handwriting, and listening.

Q: What’s the one thing you want visitors to take away after exploring the school? Particularly during these times of physical distancing, I hope that visitors take away a sense of comfort in seeing the care that our faculty and staff take to create an engaging and safe learning environment for students. 

Q: Did you run into any difficulties scanning the school? 

Not at all. The Matterport team was extremely efficient and helpful throughout the entire process.

Q: What is your favorite 3D scan of the school? 

My favorite scan is that of the science lab as I feel that space is comparable to those you would find in many high schools. Students have access to all the equipment and instruments they need to carry out experiments and collect data.

Q: Anything else you would like to add? 

MTCES is most grateful to be the recipient of these complementary and impressive images. Again, as an independent school, we do not receive financial support from a parish so creating these scans would not be feasible with our budget