Everyday Heroes is a regular feature in this staff blog. Remember to submit names of employees districtwide who have done something deserving of encouragement and praise. Give a shout-out to one of your colleagues at your school or support building and watch for it to appear in an upcoming Everyday Heroes blog post.

Here are our newest honorees:

Everyday Heroes
OSD Social Work and Counseling Teams

OHS would like to nominate the OSD Social Work and Counseling Teams that came in and supported us over the first two weeks in January.  That was an incredibly difficult time as we started each week with an emergency staff meeting announcing the death of another very well-loved student.

The Social Workers provided ongoing support by hosting a Staff Care Room, where we were able to safely access this location for care. Our Social Workers/Counselors also staffed a Care Room for our students. Students were able to grieve, talk to peers, grab a snack, and process with a safe adult about their loss. This was a highly emotional time with lots of tears and to have other schools give up their counselors to come help us went above and beyond. Our students reported that this room was critical in providing necessary support. We simply can not thank our own Social Worker Jen Gould enough along with Ruth Middlebrook and her amazing team for caring for us over those two weeks when we simply couldn’t.

While we hope that none of us ever has to utilize this resource again, it was comforting to know that it’s there and that these amazing individuals go above and beyond.
Submitted by Olympia High School Staff

How to nominate an Everyday Hero

• Email the Communications and Community Relations Department (communications@osd.wednet.edu) a few sentences, and no more than 200 words, about why the person deserves recognition. It’s easiest to write as if speaking directly to the colleague, such as “Thank you for helping with…” or “I really appreciated when you…”
• Write “Everyday Heroes” in the subject heading of the email.
• Include your first and last name as the person submitting the comments.
• Include the first and last name of the OSD employee you are recognizing.
• Include the job title and work location (school or department) of the person you are recognizing.

All submissions will be posted in this blog on a weekly basis and archived each week.