Telling Your School’s COVID-19 Story
melinda wissmann
Even in these awful days—especially in these days—we all encounter inspiring stories. Don’t let them go to waste.
As the pandemic challenges schools and other organizations in so many ways, it is also bringing out the best in so many of our people. Now is the time to record and report their stories of strength, kindness, and resourcefulness.
When bad and frightening things happen in the world around us, Mr. Rogers famously told us to look for the helpers. Always, he said, you will find people stepping forward to show courage and kindness. Take assurance from them.
As we’ve followed the news from schools across the country that Kelsh Wilson Design has worked with, we see that Mr. Rogers was right. People are rising to the challenges of this moment, lending assistance, supporting each other, and also adapting at a speed rarely seen in the world of education.
At Kelsh Wilson, our job is to help organizations advance their missions by communicating effectively. Our advice right now is to research and report the many stories that can reveal your school community at its best.
We know, of course, that communication teams everywhere are already operating in overdrive. There’s so much news to share, and things change so quickly. We also know these teams are working hard on messaging that’s upbeat.
Our recommendation is to go a step further. It is to think creatively and plan intentionally for storytelling that is a degree deeper, exploring the kind of content that you might usually focus on in a magazine feature story. Maybe this content will populate future magazine pieces, print or digital. Or maybe it will become a special web microsite. Or maybe you will divide it into bite-size morsels and share them through social media. In any event, the idea is to go beyond breaking news that will be forgotten quickly and develop something meaningful and memorable—and to collect the assets now that you will need to shape these stories later.
The actual topics you might explore span a broad range, from profiles of heroes making life better within your community (even administrators can be heroes!) to lighter items, such as collections of quirky coping mechanisms and advice or day-in-the-life snapshots. In more normal times, we often counsel schools to spotlight stories of teaching and learning; that is, to get inside the student experience by exploring real projects and lessons up close. Following that advice now means capturing the realities of virtual learning. What do students and faculty say about this adventure? What tips and tricks have they picked up to do it better? How is it different—and maybe not so different—to have French or geometry or PE by Zoom?
As with all the storytelling you do, this is a chance not only to engage your audience but also to position your institution. Pick the story angles that will show your people at their most resilient and resourceful, and your organization at its most organized.
This kind of communication presents a wonderful opportunity for community building. It lets you celebrate virtues that members of your community hold dear—perhaps the same values you look to instill in students. It also helps nurture a feeling of connection because no matter how many times we are told that we are in this together and will come through it together, the lived reality of this pandemic is isolating. We need shared stories.
There is one other reason to dedicate creativity and care to documenting this strange experience: for history. Your community can find itself strengthened by a successful response to a difficult challenge. And your shared sense of identity can be strengthened by stories that spotlight this response, for readers now and in the future. Be sure that when those future readers look back, they discover stories as inspiring as the reality you are witnessing firsthand.