Woodland Wildcast Wins Award, Reaches 1,000 Downloads
The Woodland Wildcast was recently recognized by the Illinois Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association (INSPRA) with an Award of Merit as part of the 2024 Communications Awards program. In the same week that the announcement was made, the Wildcast also reached the milestone of 1,000 downloads. Woodland invites you to help shape future episodes of our award-winning podcast to help make this communication vehicle a true representation of the people who make up #LifeintheW.
About the Podcast:
Woodland District 50 has multiple communication channels to connect stakeholders with the information they need: a weekly district newsletter, a robust website, a mobile app, and an engaging presence on social media. With the move to shorter format stories for the newsletter and social media, Dr. Machak was concerned that Woodland did not have a place for stakeholders to explore topics in greater depth. He wanted to create a space where district staff, families, and community members could get to know the people working behind the scenes to make our district such a great place for children, staff, and our families. With this idea in mind, Dr. Machak and Brooke Hagstrom, the district’s Communications Manager, embarked on the Woodland Wildcast - A #LifeintheW Podcast.
Dr. Machak explains, “The vision was to record a series of conversations that would help personalize our district and amplify staff and student voices. I wanted to create a library of topics to provide our stakeholders and community members a place to explore a topic that interests them in greater detail, something with a longer shelf life than a social media post. I am thrilled with the feedback and recognition we have received so far; a logical next step is to have our listeners help us determine where the podcast goes from here to some extent.”
How to Get Involved:
As we continue to build out the podcast schedule for the 2024-2025 school year (Season Two), we invite all of our stakeholders to provide feedback. We are thinking about creating a “Questions for the Superintendent” episode where Dr. Machak will respond to listener questions submitted by staff, students, and families. We are also asking our listeners WHAT or WHO they want to learn more about, and we will use that feedback to help us plan for future episodes. To submit your questions and feedback, use this form.
About the Award:
INSPRA hosts an annual Communications Awards Contest to recognize the work of School Communications Professionals in Illinois. The Woodland Wildcast received an Award of Merit under the Special Series category. Communications Contest entries are judged by school communicators from across the country and the Wildcast was judged worthy of recognition through this process. Here is a sampling of feedback from the judges:
Excellent channel for creating space for more in-depth topics.
The superintendent is engaging and open.
The intro, featuring the enthusiastic 'Let's Go!' from the 4th graders and music from the middle school Jazz Band, is brilliant—fun, engaging, and with excellent sound quality.
Your podcast is fantastic, with engaging topics, interesting guests, and relevant information.
The host and guests were fun and relatable and kept the conversation engaging. I particularly appreciated the variety of questions and answers that allowed listeners to learn more about the guests.
Getting to hear from your Superintendent, Board, your students, and your teachers was a treat! Excellent work.
Help shape the future of the Woodland Wildcast HERE!
Listen to previous episodes at https://woodlandwildcast.podbean.com/