Projects
Throughout my career, I’ve led and contributed to a wide range of projects focused on strengthening and expanding corporate brand identity. These initiatives span event planning, marketing campaigns, and digital strategy—including designing websites, producing brochures and publications, creating multimedia content, and growing social media presence. The projects below showcase how I combine creativity, strategy, and hands-on execution to deliver impactful results.
Celebration of Excellence
Annual Employee Celebration
Since 2017, I have helped design and evolve the Celebration of Excellence, an annual event uniting all employees to recognize contributions, foster teamwork, and celebrate achievements. Originally created to combine teacher and support staff recognition, the event features peer-nominated “Exemplars” based on The Mishawaka Way, live entertainment, engaging activities, and excellent food.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the event shifted to a relaxed outdoor experience at the Potawatomi Zoo (2021–2022). In 2023–2024, we introduced a mini Trivia Party format to combine the traditional Celebration atmosphere with casual, interactive fun. Most recently, in 2025 and 2026, the event was hosted outdoors at a South Bend Cubs game, providing a lively, community-focused setting for employees and their guests to celebrate achievements together.
The Celebration of Excellence strengthens organizational culture, highlights employee accomplishments, and creates a memorable, engaging experience for all staff.
Welcome Back to School
Annual Magazine/Digital Newsletter Produced for Families
With over 5,000 students across nine schools, communicating essential back-to-school information to families required a creative, centralized solution. To complement email, social media, text, and website updates, we launched the annual Welcome Back to School magazine—a printed resource mailed directly to each student household.
The magazine consolidated all critical information in one place, including the school calendar, open houses, daily schedules, immunization requirements, school supply lists, enrollment forms, food service details, fees, and before/after school programs. A Spanish version was introduced in 2023 to serve our ENL (English as a New Language) families, ensuring accessibility for all households.
In the past two years, to reduce costs and improve accessibility, the magazine transitioned into a digital newsletter emailed directly to families, with built-in features that automatically translate the content into each family’s preferred language while retaining the same comprehensive information.
This initiative has delivered a strong ROI, with families reporting greater ease in accessing information and reduced stress in preparing for the school year. By providing a single, inclusive resource, the project strengthens communication, builds confidence, and enhances the family experience from the very first day of school.
Technology & Integration
Magazine Produced for Staff and
the Community
Following the passage of the 2016 Operating Levy referendum, our district gained funding not only for additional technology equipment but also for a wide range of educational software. To communicate how these resources were integrated into classrooms and benefited students, we launched the quarterly Technology & Integration magazine.
The publication provided the community with a clear view of how tax dollars were invested in education beyond the devices themselves. It highlighted innovative classroom uses of technology and showcased our teachers’ creativity and expertise in leveraging digital tools to enhance student learning.
Through this initiative, we strengthened transparency, demonstrated the impact of technology investments, and celebrated the innovative work of our educators, helping the community see the direct benefits of their support.
Social Media Strategy & Implementation
Connecting to the Community
In 2014, following the Board of School Trustees’ adoption of a social media policy, I was tasked with establishing School City of Mishawaka’s social media presence. Facebook served as the starting point, providing a platform for staff, parents, and community members to stay informed about district news, events, and student achievements.
In March 2016, we expanded to Twitter with the launch of @scmschools, creating an additional channel to engage educators, share resources, and tell the district’s story. By fall 2016, all schools had established their own Facebook and Twitter accounts, with dedicated staff managing posts and updates for each building.
This initiative strengthened district communication, increased transparency, and fostered stronger connections with families and the community, while empowering individual schools to share their achievements and news directly.
Website Modernization & Intranet Development
Bringing a Modern Look to the Community
The School City of Mishawaka website had become cluttered with long lists of text and PDF links, providing a poor first impression for families, staff, and the community. I was tasked with creating a professional, user-friendly, and visually appealing website that better represented the district’s brand and improved access to information.
After extensive research, webinars, and reviews, I recommended Blackboard as our content management system, providing the flexibility to design a fully customized website rather than a generic template. This redesign also presented an opportunity to create a new, memorable URL—www.mishawakaschools.com—replacing the less intuitive scm.mishawaka.k12.in.us.
Since the launch, the website has received overwhelmingly positive feedback for its ease of navigation, enhanced content, and modern design. Even more than six years later, it continued to serve as a central hub for families, staff, and the community, showcasing the district’s programs, achievements, and resources.
Web design and technology are constantly evolving, and our website provider, Blackboard, was acquired by the K–12 platform FinalSite. This presented an opportunity to refresh MishawakaSchools.com with a modern look, streamlined navigation, and simplified web-building tools. I successfully negotiated a five-year contract that will save the district approximately $20,000, and the new website launched in November 2024.
In addition to the public-facing site, I developed a district intranet integrated with our Google Workspace account. This strategic approach ensures internal documentation and communications remain platform-independent, reducing future rebuild efforts if web providers change. By moving internal content to the intranet, we also enhanced the user experience for families, staff, and community members, allowing them to easily navigate the public website and access the information most relevant to them.
Email Communications & Stakeholder Engagement
Email Campaigns for Internal and External Communications
Effective communication is more than sending emails—it’s about delivering messages that are clear, visually engaging, and informative. To advance our communications strategy, we introduced Constant Contact in 2018, using it to streamline both internal and external communications.
Internally, the tool supported a weekly staff newsletter, monthly labor management meeting summaries, and targeted health and wellness campaigns. Externally, it enabled the School Board Scoop, a post-meeting newsletter that summarizes board decisions and key information for the community, keeping stakeholders informed and engaged.
To maximize efficiency and reduce costs, all of these communications have now been migrated to our website and internal communication tool, providing a centralized, accessible hub for staff and the community. These efforts have strengthened transparency, improved stakeholder engagement, and delivered measurable value to the district.
Video Production & Story Telling
Bringing Stories to Life
A compelling story often needs more than words or images—it requires motion, sound, and emotion. Through video production, whether a 30-second clip, one-minute short story, three-minute mini-documentary, or even a GIF, I’ve been able to create content that resonates with audiences and amplifies engagement. Below are a few examples of how video has been used to tell powerful stories for School City of Mishawaka.
United Way Campaign
Our annual internal United Way campaign had traditionally relied on long, text-heavy emails. I produced an emotional video demonstrating how staff contributions directly impact students. The results were outstanding: we surpassed fundraising goals, strengthened our partnership with United Way, and earned recognition as The Team That Makes it Happen, Company of the Year, and Most Influential Community Partnership.
Teacher of the Year Celebration
Celebrating employees is central to our culture. I capture the moment a teacher is surprised with the Teacher of the Year award, highlighting the excitement and participation of the entire school community—including the band. These videos create lasting memories while showcasing staff excellence.
Construction & Safety Updates
During our annual Back to School Celebration, I produced videos that visually highlight the extensive work completed over the summer. These short, impactful videos engaged over 700 staff members and set a positive, informative tone for the school year.
Through these projects, video has become a strategic tool for storytelling, staff recognition, community engagement, and impactful communications across multiple audiences.
United Way Campaign
Teacher of the Year
Construction & Safety
Marketing Plans
Targeted Campaign to Attract New Families
Each year, I lead the Out of District Marketing campaign, collaborating with a public relations and brand-building firm to strategically reach our target audience across six marketing platforms.
I develop a comprehensive marketing plan—including goals, platform strategy, budget, and project timeline—which is presented to the School Board for approval. After the campaign concludes, I provide a follow-up report highlighting measurable ROI and impact, demonstrating how our marketing efforts attract and engage prospective families while supporting the district’s growth and visibility.
This initiative showcases my ability to manage multi-channel marketing campaigns, coordinate with external partners, and communicate results to executive stakeholders.
