Keystone Oaks’ newest Public Relations Coordinator has much to offer

Sarah Welch was hired in the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year as Keystone Oak’s newest Public Relations Coordinator. She brings a positive attitude, fresh ideas, and modern ideas of reaching out to students and parents of the district.

Sarah Welch knew from the start she wanted “to write and get into journalism.” She was honorably accepted into her high school newspaper as a sophomore and majored in print journalism at Duquesne University.

“Writing is a great skill because it can be used in so many different jobs,” said Welch on the importance of her beloved skill.

When she graduated, it was a rough time for writers and the journalism and newspaper business, so Welch began working with a Moon Township Public Access TV Channel. Her job was to help manage volunteer coordination and community programming.

Welch’s position of PR Coordinator is not one that many people associate with a high school, but her position is crucial for getting positive word out to students and community members. Welch has to balance covering different events that can overlap in the same day and works with over 200 faculty members. Her hardest challenge is keeping a balance between the five different schools and three communities.

“There are lots of groups to communicate with so you just try to make sure you’re communicating effectively between those groups and getting the word out through as many ways as you can,” Welch said about working with the large administration and community members.

In the short time she has been here, she has handled balancing the multitude of events very well.

The day of an event, she is there interviewing students and taking pictures to share later. Then she will write a small article about the event and share it through the school’s Facebook or Twitter pages. Welch pitches the story of the event to local newspapers, but most of the time she writes articles about the events herself.

Even though she graduated and has worked with other administrations, Welch continues to better her knowledge by taking classes at local colleges to stay updated on ways of communication and sharing her ideas and articles.

“I don’t have any other official degrees, but I try to take classes when needed to help build my skill set and make sure I have the skills needed to do the job,” Welch said.

Welch has only been here for seven months but has plans to help change the everyday communications of Keystone Oaks. By the end of the school year, she plans to have created a new District webpage to help communication between students, parents, and faculty become easy and includes up to date information.

“I think just more effective communication: and making sure people know all of the good things going on in the school would really be, within the year, the biggest goal.” said Welch on her goals for the school year.