Helix Charter High School is getting serious about optimizing communication and connection. The historical school, which just graduated its 70th class of seniors, set out this year to increase connection among its large population.
“We just celebrated the largest graduating class in our school’s history. We have 2,500 students, over 200 staff members, and a large community of families that need to be informed so we wanted to enhance our main conduits of communication,” said Lauren Knuth.
Earlier this year, Helix hired Knuth to be their community relations & engagement coordinator. She is a long-time La Mesa resident with two school-aged children. She brings more than 20 years of experience in corporate communications, event planning and marketing, and she is excited to now be working in a school environment with people and causes she is passionate about.
Helix is focusing on three main facets of communication as it moves into 2022-23 school year:
Updated Helix Charter website
The new version of the school’s website (helixcharter.net) is set to launch before school starts on Aug. 4, giving parents, students and staff some time to get acquainted with it. You can watch a tour of the new site here. The new site will give users a better look at all of the events and programs on campus. Helix partnered with Blackboard Web Community Manager, a website and content management system that provides the tools to build a website that serves as a communications hub. The site uses responsive web design (RWD) to ensure it can be easily read and navigated on a wide range of devices, from desktops to mobile phones and tablets.
Some highlights of the Helix Charter High School’s new website include:
- A comprehensive calendar that highlights events from all departments on campus from sporting events to performing arts to academic testing
- An announcement section that will have daily news, information and social media feeds
- A hub of documents, policies and procedures to make things easy to find
- The ability to convey emergency messages in real-time
Increased social media presence
As social media emerges as one of the primary methods of communication, the school is optimizing its Facebook and Instagram accounts. Helix will be posting regularly to these accounts, as well as interacting with comments and questions. You can find it on Facebook by liking Helix Charter High School and on Instagram by following Helix ASB.
Increased communication & community engagement
Helix is looking at ways to increase community engagement and will be launching some initiatives to do just that. In an effort to keep families informed, there will be an increase of correspondence via all channels, including email and text. With such a large population and campus, Helix is hoping this increases inclusivity and connection.
“Helix has always been known for its strong community and we hope that these new initiatives will only improve things,“ said Knuth.
