The earliest version of ILPS looked much different than it does today. In the beginning, the focus was documentary storytelling. The idea was to capture the real stories of public schools through a cinematic lens, showing the hardships, successes and everyday moments that rarely make headlines. 

It was an ambitious, heartfelt approach—but unfortunately, shifts in grant funding necessitated a change in strategy. Now staffed entirely by volunteers, the organization had to rethink what it could realistically do. ILPS would no longer be able to go out and tell everyone's story for them. But what they could do instead was give schools a platform where their stories could be shared and heard. That pivot—from telling stories on behalf of schools to empowering them to tell their own—turned out to be a defining moment for the movement. 

It was during this shift in direction that I joined the ILPS Board of Champions. As a member of the Nebraska School Public Relations Association (NebSPRA), I felt I could help serve as a bridge between the organization and school communicators across the state. I also believed we could build something sustainable—something that didn’t require a big budget to make a real impact. But most importantly, I believed passionately in ILPS’s mission. We hear so much about what’s going wrong in education, but there’s far more good happening in our schools than they’re given credit for. ILPS gives those stories a place to live.

In the time since I joined, ILPS has become an infrastructure for collective voice. Instead of chasing stories, we amplify them. And in the process, we’ve discovered that real stories told by real people stick with communities far more than an overproduced campaign.

Empowering others to tell their stories sounds simple. In practice, it often requires support—especially for small or rural districts without dedicated communications staff. That’s where some of ILPS’ initiatives come in.

One example is Feel the Love Fridays. On the first Friday of every month, we encourage schools to post stories on social media around a specific theme—like “Community Partnerships,” “Innovation in the Classroom” or “School Pride.” For busy administrators or teachers juggling communications along with other tasks, these prompts provide an easy starting point. And when they include the hashtag #ILovePublicSchools, we can easily reshare the posts through our own platforms—amplifying their reach. 

Then there is I Love Public Schools Day: a designated moment each year when schools, educators, families, alumni and community members across the state unite to flood social media with positive stories. The power of I Love Public Schools Day isn’t just the volume of posts, but the people those stories reach. People tag legislators, school board members, community leaders and more—influential figures who hear criticism of public schools far more often than praise. 

Perhaps the clearest measure of the movement’s growing influence came last year, when Nebraska state legislation was introduced attempting to prevent public schools from celebrating events such as I Love Public Schools Day. It did not succeed—but it was a signal that the movement had grown too visible to ignore. When opposition organizes against you, that’s usually a sign that you’re making a difference.

In addition to providing a platform for schools, ILPS has made a point of showing up in the spaces where school communicators and administrators already gather to learn. We have presented on collective storytelling at the Nebraska Council of School Administrators’ Administrator Days, bringing our message directly to the district leaders who shape the ways schools engage with the public. We also stay connected with a large pool of superintendents across the state to keep the platform and its tools on their radars. ILPS maintains a close relationship with NebSPRA as well. After all, who understands the power of schools telling their own stories better than school communicators?

That moment at the airport wasn’t just a hypothetical. It happens all the time. The ILPS message has spread the way many ideas do: organically, through people who encounter it and want to share it. Something as simple as a T-shirt or a hat emblazoned with “I Love Public Schools” sparks a conversation. Someone notices the message and says, “I do, too.” Before long, two strangers are talking about what makes their local schools remarkable. 

Last summer, ILPS hosted a session at the National School Public Relations Association's National Seminar in Washington, D.C., presenting to an audience of school communications professionals from all across the country. We also hosted a booth where attendees could connect with the team, learn more about the movement and buy those “I Love Public Schools” T-shirts. 

At the same time, we officially launched I Love Public Schools Facebook pages for all 50 states, giving the movement a simple way to grow beyond Nebraska while still keeping the original grassroots approach. Now, ILPS is seeking national partners to help us amplify our message to an even broader audience—while preserving the authenticity that made the movement resonate in the first place.

I’m proud to serve on ILPS’ Board of Champions. The name reflects what we’re really trying to do: champion public education simply because it deserves to be championed. Public schools face real struggles—recruitment and retention crises, funding pressures, political polarization—but those challenges don’t tell the full story of public education. 

Every day in schools across the country, stories are unfolding. Somewhere, a student is finding their voice in a choir room. A teacher is staying late for a student who needs them. Robotics teams are competing, school service projects are strengthening communities, and first-generation college students are getting their university acceptance letters. Those stories should not be footnotes in the public education narrative; they are the narrative. They’re just rarely treated that way.

When communities hear these stories consistently, something shifts: People remember what public schools actually do and why they matter. And once they realize that, they vote "Yes" on school referendums. They volunteer at school events. They might even stand up at a school board meeting to say, “I love public schools.” 

Across the country, public schools are competing not just for resources, but for public trust. In a crowded and often noisy media landscape, the everyday nuance of what happens in public schools is often drowned out by negativity. And small, rural school districts—the ones whose communities depend on them the most—often don’t have the resources to consistently tell those positive stories.

That’s exactly why ILPS matters. Every district that joins, every school page that’s created and every Feel the Love Friday post shifts the conversation, even if only a little. The movement that started in Nebraska with a simple declaration—“I love public schools”—is gradually becoming a national network of people who believe that public education’s story deserves to be told by the people who live it everyday. They know it best. And they’re just getting started.