A few years ago, I started writing a magazine story about urban resilience. Several graduates of the school where I worked had, coincidentally, become leaders in this emerging field, driving cities’ commitment to address climate change locally.

Then, as can happen, new assignments at school made me push aside the information I’d collected. The story slid lower and lower on my to-do list, and ultimately I never finished the piece. (If only I’d had a Fine Point Communications to call upon for help!)

The women I researched have stayed in my mind, though, and I was delighted to see one of them, Stephanie Stuckey, appear this month in the New York Times — although her story had nothing to do with climate change.

Pegged to summer road trips, the feature tells of the comeback attempt of the highway-roadside franchise Stuckey’s. Those of us who have traveled the South can recall its blue-roofed buildings in out-of-the-way places, heralded by many, many billboards.

What grabbed me about the Times story, though, was less the nostalgia angle as a few paragraphs on how and why Stephanie Stuckey bought the family-owned business from her father and his partners. Her father had lost hope in the prospects of selling pecan log rolls to travelers, yet Stephanie saw an enduring brand that needed only attention and care to reconnect with people and build back sales.

Stuckey gave up her focus on civic sustainability to become an entrepreneur. She now drives tens of thousands of miles a year to visit store locations, fly the company flag and learn about her customers. She also brought Stuckey’s a modern-day PR presence to remind people that the company is still around: She is clearly good at media pitches — heck, she landed a New York Times feature! — but I particularly admire her top-notch social media game, full of personality and passion.

Passion, in fact, is the key component in this story. Stephanie Stuckey’s unwillingness to see the family business fall into others’ hands and her conviction that she had the correct vision for its future drove her to risk everything she owned to make the company successful again.

Passion is essential in any entrepreneur’s journey. But it is also critical to our work as communicators in promoting our schools. Our wins come from making people care, from finding the emotional chord that will resonate deeply and drive action.

I offer all this as a way to ask, Does passion show up in what your office produces? As you look over planned projects for the coming year, take a second to assess their potential to affect the heart, not just the head.

And ask yourself, do you feel passionate about your work? If not, here are three simple steps for getting back on track.

If Stephanie Stuckey can get people excited about the opportunity to buy a rubber alligator or a six-pack of pecan-flavored beer, schools can certainly drive enthusiasm about our ability to transform lives.

What’s new at Fine Point Communications

Tomorrow concludes the Global Forum on Girls’ Education, a conference sponsored by the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools. As I mentioned a couple of months ago, Fine Point Communications is a sponsor for this event, and I’ve reconnected with many familiar faces while meeting dozens more people in our field. I also discovered quite a bit about what goes into arranging a booth at a conference!

A brief aside: I can heartily recommend a bed-and-breakfast for your next trip to Boston. The College Club of Boston opened in 1890 as the first club in the United States specifically for educated women, and it also provided boarding for young women attending local schools. A hundred years later, the club refreshed those rooms, naming each after a different college in the area, and created a B&B to keep the club going financially. (My room is named after Emmanuel College, which historically educated nurses and teachers.) The building just off the Public Garden is full of history and character, and it’s definitely worth checking out.

Summer is often a quieter time at schools but not for Fine Point Communications. I’m working currently on a client’s brand-identity packet, a college-counseling brochure and a handout promoting STEAM opportunities. Teed up for the coming weeks are a coffee-table book celebrating a school’s centennial and a couple of magazine profiles. Lots of variety!

Don’t-miss clicks

• Major congratulations are due to Milton Academy, which claimed one of the biggest prizes in school communications this month by winning the 2022 Robert Sibley Magazine of the Year award from CASE. Milton becomes the first independent school to win the Sibley, although the Massachusetts school has been a finalist for the award several times in recent years. Also notable: The Williston Northampton School’s magazine, the Bulletin, won its third CASE Circle of Excellence Award in four years. Check out these school magazines on Issuu (Milton’s page and WNS’s page). In all, independent schools won 14 of this year’s 630 Circle of Excellence awards, with one — Phillips Exeter Academy — taking top honors in the fundraising campaign category.
• Affordable housing for faculty and staff poses a challenge for day schools based in cities. The Harker School in San Jose has an interesting solution: buy apartment buildings near campus. Its recent purchase of two buildings — growing Harker’s holdings to six — helped solve one difficulty but created an obvious challenge for neighborhood relations. The San Jose Mercury News story covers the basics but missed a question I have: How do parents paying tuition feel about Harker spending millions of dollars on real estate?

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