Count Day and More Press

Last week was a very important week for GRPS; the staff had to get everything in order for Count Day. This also meant that I was given the task to help prepare for it. One of the secretaries explained that she wouldn't be at work on Friday and set out a pile of posters, wooden rulers, English/ Spanish signs, and glue sticks; I had to create signs for everyone to hold on the street corners making sure children were in school. Some of the signs were written in Spanish and some were English with the message, "Honk if your kid is in school." I would consider this to be busy work to get me throughout the day on Friday; however, parents needed to be aware of Count Day. For every student that doesn't attend school on a Count Day, the school actually loses money; GRPS cannot afford to lose any money.

I thought I would be able to get to work on this project right away on Friday; however, to my surprise, my supervisor handed me four press releases that needed to be finished by the end of the day. The press releases consisted of topics that included City Middle School receiving a $5,000 dollar grant, Ottawa Hills football player Devon Ivy winning player of the week, Union High School's band leading the Halloween Parade at a featured elementary school, and Central High School finishing out their last year with an Athletics department. I had the opportunity to explore writing press releases that required different content and styles without much information. I had to do a lot of research for the releases this time. With the last two, I was given detailed information regarding the events so I just had to take out the important facts. This time, I was given snippets of the highlights and had to create a larger story. I thought the process went quite well; I was able to get all information necessary and finish the projects two hours before I had to leave. This allowed me not only to feel proud I met the deadline but I was able to start on the posters.