By Laurie Lechlitner
InkFreeNews

Krista Polston is director of communication and strategic partnerships at Warsaw Community School Corporation. As director of communication, she passes on news about what is happening in the school corporation for the community and parents. As director of strategic partnerships, she connects partner organizations to WCS, such as Zimmer Biomet, that donated glasses for kids to view the recent eclipse at school. Photo provided by Krista Polston.

WARSAW — “I was a special ed teacher for nine years and really enjoyed having hands-on with my students in the classroom,” stated Krista Polston, Warsaw.

“When I began at Warsaw Community School Corporation I was working at the central office as the grant coordinator. I enjoyed working with partners in the community. But I also enjoy the area of communications and educational leadership. January of 2023, I transitioned over to director of communication and strategic partnerships. My goal is to highlight the happenings in our 13 school buildings, and to reach out to partners in the community.”

Polston received her bachelor’s degree in special education and early childhood development at Ball State University. “My original intention was to work in special education with preschoolers. I ended up in a school classroom.” She went on to get a master’s degree in general education, also from Ball State. “I received my MBA in educational leadership and my educational specialist degree from Indiana State University.”

Being a student at Warsaw High School, Polston credits her love of writing to two of her favorite teachers. “Dr. Hoffert, who is now my boss, was my history teacher. Jim Gilmore was another of my history teachers. I did a lot of writing in those two classes and loved it. I also did a lot of writing in my special education classroom with reports and other paperwork I needed to fill out for the students.”

No two days are alike for Polston. “I do press releases and supervise the social media platforms. I also have a lot of meetings, especially in the strategic partnership area of my job.”

She wears many hats. “As a communicator I pass on news about what is happening at our schools for the community and the parents. After meeting with the principal, I go to work interviewing staff members or students and putting their stories together. I’m also the person who is alerted in a crisis situation. My job is to get the word out immediately.”

Along with writing articles, there’s a lot of photography that needs to be included. “I’ve taken a couple photography courses. Mostly the camera does the work for me.”

In the area of strategic partnerships, Polston travels out to the community. “I help connect partner organizations to our school corporation. For example, we do a lot of work with Zimmer Biomet. When we had our recent eclipse, the organization supplied special glasses for the students to watch the phenomenon at school. Bowen Center supplies some counseling for students and staff members. I’m also on the YMCA board. Reaching out to the organizations in the community is my job.”

Polston sometimes misses the hands-on work she did in the classroom. To remedy this, she has teamed up with Scott Green’s digital media class. “This lightens my load and allows the students to actually do the work of interviewing, writing or videotaping. Scott and I supervise their work.”

Right now, the class is interviewing a bus driver, a custodian and a paraprofessional. “These are some of the job slots we need filled at WCS. The kids highlight the jobs so future applicants can see how important and interesting they are.”

Polston and her husband Nathan have two boys: Madox, 10 and Nash, 9. This past fall break the family took a cruise to the Bahamas.