Connecting with you in Bellevue: NSPRA 2024 Wrap-up

Another NSPRA conference—and summer—gone too soon. Time flies when you are having fun connecting with your favorite school PR peeps! We recently attended the biggest NSPRA National Seminar yet in Bellevue, Washington. NSPRA gets better every year, and we have you to thank for that! Conferences are special, because there we get to connect with YOU (and in this case, Sasquatch too)!

At NSPRA, our team belted our hearts out at Karaoke, gradually disassembled our pyramid of Peachy stuffies, distributed the coveted Peachjar socks, and Matthew recorded some content at our in-booth recording studio. Matthew also had the opportunity on Sunday, July 14, to serve as a panelist during the Leaders Meeting for NSPRA chapter leaders. The panel topic was "Fostering Genuine Partnerships Between Chapters and Sponsors/Vendors.

We have heard it from you as well, but this year’s event exemplified a balance—common ground(s) if you will—between professional development and meaningful conversation mixed with engaging and fun events and participants. There were discussions and sessions about timely topics impacting your communities nationwide—like cell phone restrictions, neurodiversity, Public Records Requests, and AI just to name a few. We enjoyed learning more about what your school districts are facing. We also appreciated the lighter moments of the seminar—like our very own, Tabassum Bhaghani sharing her Pike Place expertise and putting on her tour guide hat for a few hours. New places are overwhelming, especially in the summer, but how cool to be tourists together! It is a privilege to be welcomed into a group of servant leaders who put their communities first and so openly share their expertise, resources, and time.

Former NSPRA President, Cathy Kedjidjian says it so beautifully, “School PR people are the most welcoming, generous people you could ever meet…”

Until next year!
—the Peachjar team! 🍑