Today is my last day at Scholastic. It has been an adventure-filled 7 years full of exciting projects, meaningful work, and some of the best coworkers one could ask for. As I head on to my next adventure, I couldn’t resist reminiscing about a few of my favorite Scholastic moments:
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards: I first attended the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall in 2009. Though at the time I was just a few years older than the high school students being recognized, the ceremony was so powerful and made me so proud of them that it brought tears to my eyes. Eventually I had the opportunity to work one-on-one with a class of talented Art & Writing winners (have you met this year’s winners yet?), but I continued attending the ceremony each year. And I’ll admit that it STILL makes me sniffle every time!
The Scholastic News Kids Press Corps Election 2012: The Scholastic News Kids Press Corps is a program near and dear to my heart, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the privilege of working with so many ambitious and talented young reporters. The presidential election is such an amazing time to be a part of the program, as our Kid Reporters cover every step of the trail. One of my personal favorite moments was attending the Democratic National Convention and hearing President Obama speak to the thousands of people crammed into the stadium – the energy was electric! (Be sure to follow this year's election coverage at www.scholastic.com/election).
Taylor Swift Read Every Day Webcast: One of my first projects at Scholastic involved helping out with our first Taylor Swift live webcast. We ran an essay contest where kids could write about their favorite book for the chance to win a trip to our NYC headquarters to attend the show and meet Taylor – it was my job to notify the winners (Best. Job. Ever.) and escort them to the show when they arrived. If it wasn’t cool enough to be the bearer of good news, I also got to see these kids light up when they met their musical idol, who was gracious and excited to meet them.
Although I won’t be roaming the halls of Scholastic HQ any longer, Scholastic and the work that we do here will always be with me – it has been such an honor to Open a World of Possible through books and reading!
