HOLYOKE — The Holyoke Public Schools communications team was recognized through five different national communications awards highlighting their impressive levels of storytelling and communication within the district.
The National School Public Relations Association recently announced its 2024 Publications and Digital Media Excellence winners, representing some of the best communications work produced by public relations professionals from school districts across the United States and Canada.
Winning entries were recognized during the Annual Meeting and Celebration of Achievement during NSPRA’s 2024 National Seminar from July 14-17 in Bellevue, Washington.
Holyoke Public Schools submitted a total of five entries this year and all five were selected for national recognition. While nobody from the HPS communications team attended the seminar this year, these awards have been presented to Communications Director Jennie Oesterreicher, Media Center Director Michael Hines, Senior Communications Coordinator Kat Johnson and Chief of Strategy and Turnaround Erin Linville for their respective work on these projects.
Oesterreicher told Reminder Publishing transparency and community engagement are the hallmarks of doing good school communications work.
“A big piece of what we do every day is to make sure we are transparent and inclusive in the information that we share,” Oesterreicher said.
Receiving an Award of Excellence was a video titled “A Model School: Making it Our Own” and was produced by HPS Media Center Director Michael Hines. Hines told Reminder Publishing the work done by him and the team through this video helped bring transparency and context for what is one of the biggest topics in the district, the new middle school building.
“It was a model school so we’re lucky enough to have an example right in the state so we were able to talk to the principal, talk to people there and just get a look at it,” said Hines of the video. He added this was a great example of the power of the communications team’s work as they were able to produce a video giving context to families and community members on what their new middle school will look like and offer.
“We were able to make it real for people so that before our ground got broken, you could get a feel. This is a huge investment to build a new middle school. What is our money buying and what is the quality we are going to get?” Oesterreicher said. “You could feel and see that for yourself through the video that Mike shot and through the interviews that he was able to do of people involved with that project to bring it home for us.”
“A Model School: Making it Our Own” and the other HPS communications videos and work awarded can be viewed on the district website, and the videos specifically can be found on the district’s YouTube channel.
Oesterreicher said she and the HPS communications team have used these awards from the National School Public Relations Association as a resource to learn about what other districts around the states and Canada are doing for their communications work. Submitting their work for an award, win or lose, gives them feedback and perspective on their own work and how they can improve on their mission.
“Of course everyone wants to win an award, that’s lovely. It’s great for our School Committee, our administration team to see that the people they trust to tell their stories rank beautifully well against our counterparts around the country, but it also gives us a chance to check the quality of our own work regardless of what a judge might have decided,” Oesterreicher said.
Hines added the process was great for seeing what others have going on in the field while also getting a better gauge of what is working for the HPS communications team.
Two other videos produced by the district were also recognized in “Cultivating compassion: Sullivan Middle School’s social-emotional learning journey” and “High school is just ahead: Advice for 8th graders.” Both videos provided examples of smaller features from the district communications team that both educates and communicates with district families and students on the efforts from the district.
The district communications team also received an award of excellence for its weekly e-newsletter and a written article from Director of Turnaround Erin Linville titled, “You’re good at math; you just don’t know it yet,’ says Sullivan math coach.” Both avenues of media have provided highlights on different district success stories and keeps families informed about the work ongoing by the district.
“I am very proud of the HPS communications team for receiving five awards from NSPRA. The awards are further affirmation that our team strives to tell impactful stories that matter to our community. We look forward to continuing to amplify the good work happening in our schools through videos, news stories and more,” said Linville.
Both Oesterreicher and Hines said feedback on their work has been positive from both families and district staff. Oesterreicher added it was important for their work to be neutral storytellers for the district while also providing information that helps decision makers do their jobs as well.
“People have good feelings about Holyoke Public Schools for the most part. You can see it in the comments, the interaction the sharing [on social media],” Oesterreicher said. “School districts, any organization, should be the first and best source of news about themselves. We don’t want other people telling our stories, we want to do it ourselves which is why we’ve invested heavily in our website and mobile app.”
Hines added the work they continue to do allows them to spotlight positive stories from the district that could go unnoticed publicly. It also allows the district to speak up for itself and showcase the positives of the community.
“It’s nice to get good attention. We’re not used to having it on us,” Hines said with a laugh. “You have to seek out the good and try and promote it.”
