What I Learned Calling 37 local High Schools

I replied to a request from Olivia's HS youth pastor. Who wouldn't offer to make a few phone calls? We belong to a church of several thousand people, of course there will multiple people offer to help. RIGHT??? To be honest, I didn't even entertain the thought I would be THE ONLY volunteer.

Well, I was!

Omaha isn't that big. How many high schools could we really have? We have 37. Ok, so that won't take too long to make 37 phone calls, right? This week I called all the high schools to obtain permission to use their school logo and request a vector file of that logo. This is all about helping kids find other students from their school at this event. That's it, nothing more.

I did what any rational person would do...I started with a spreadsheet. I love spreadsheets! They make me happy. They are orderly. It's a tidy list with space to make notes, check off items, highlight items and easily editable. Spreadsheets are my friend! :)

So here's the deal. You have to...

- look up the number and call each school

- look up the AD (activities director) and their email

- hopefully talk to the AD but probably leave a voice mail or message with the administrative assistant

- send an email to the AD (usually the AD, maybe the comm team or administration office)

- wait for a response

- download the file, half of them are not the format I asked for but I will take them anyway

- contact the church comm team. "what do I do with these vector files?"

- realize I use to have Dropbox and now how do I find that username and password

- upload to Dropbox

- figure out how to use dropbox

- keep track who I called and emailed, who gave permission, who sent the file

This took exceptionally longer than I anticipated. As of tonight, I still have 8 more schools to contact. Of the 28 schools I have reached, only 17 have sent files. 

These high schools are all so different. 

SIZE: The big public schools are about 2500 students. The small public schools are about 700-800. And the parochial schools range from class A 2500 students down to class C 300 students. 

AUTHORITY: Some secretaries have the authority to send what I need. Some ADs have the authority. And then some of the schools I had to speak with someone at the district office. Some acted like they had no idea where to even find a file of the school logo while others offered 3 different versions. 

WEBSITES: And then there's the websites. Holy Buckets! Some schools have a horrific web presence. Finding information on staff was like pulling teeth while others I could simply google school name and athletic director and everything I ever needed was right in there in black and white.

PERMISSION: Almost every person I have spoken to has been super helpful and excited that our church is doing a citywide gathering for youth. Only Bell East, so far, was concerned about the unintended endorsement they would be giving by allowing us to use their logo. Funny thing is the other school in that district, Bell West, had no problem giving us permission. And our largest district in town, Omaha Public Schools just doesn't have the time to respond to me. 

This has been interesting, kind of fun but much more involved than I expected. 

One more side note: several ADs asked me if I was related to Chris Raabe. Gosh, my husband is famous. 

(a post that is of very little significance to anyone but what I have been up to this week)