Building the Online Meeting Place for St. Olaf’s Sesquicentennial

St. Olaf College

The Challenge

In preparation for its 150th anniversary, St. Olaf College set out to create a microsite that would serve as the digital centerpiece of its yearlong celebration. The site needed to engage alumni, students, faculty, and the broader community — honoring the college’s rich history while promoting current events and inviting participation.

With a short timetable, limited budget and the need for a highly flexible platform, the project required a focused, collaborative approach and an accelerated timeline.

The Strategy

Neuger partnered with St. Olaf’s communications team to bring clarity and momentum to the project from the start, with a clear plan and timetable. The site strategy focused on:

Building a flexible platform that could evolve throughout the campaign
Showcasing the college’s legacy through archival content and storytelling
Creating multiple entry points for user engagement
Designing a visual microsite aligned with the 150th anniversary brand

The Solution

Launched on time and on brand, 150th.stolaf.edu delivers a bold, interactive experience that invites the St. Olaf community to explore, reflect, and connect. The site is organized around four key content areas:

Then & Now Tour

This interactive feature guides users through a visual timeline of campus evolution, pairing archival photographs with modern-day views. Each stop on the tour offers a glimpse into the college’s physical transformation, creating a powerful sense of continuity. The experience is both nostalgic and forward-looking, connecting past and present through place.

Stories

The Stories page highlights reflections from alumni, faculty, staff, and students — capturing the personal experiences that define the St. Olaf community. Stories are curated to reflect key themes, giving users a sense of shared identity and history. The design supports written, visual, and multimedia storytelling for flexible, ongoing updates.

Inviting Participation

The Share Your Story page invites students, alumni, faculty, staff and members of the community to contribute their own memories through a user-friendly submission form, offering the options to submit their stories in writing or via voice note. Prompts and categories guide participants in sharing experiences that may be featured across the site. The functionality turns the microsite into a living archive, shaped by the voices of Oles across generations.

Staying Connected

Designed to keep alumni engaged beyond a single visit, the Connect page offers clear opportunities to follow, subscribe, and participate. Visitors can sign up for updates, follow the 150th on social media, or explore ways to get involved with upcoming events. This section serves as a bridge between digital storytelling and real-time engagement.

The Results

The 150th microsite has become a dynamic platform for storytelling, event promotion, and alumni engagement. Since launch, it has:

Supported a successful kickoff to the 18-month celebration
Provided a scalable structure for ongoing content updates
United multiple departments under one digital presence
Encouraged hundreds of visitors to contribute and participate

Built to evolve over time, the site continues to serve as the digital home of the sesquicentennial — connecting Oles across generations and setting the tone for what’s next.

Client

St. Olaf College

Services

Web