A Pinewood podcast. A Pinewood magazine. A new school website. The new year arrives and so does a push for more Pinewood marketing and communications material. With it, Pinewood hopes to give prospective students not only fast facts, but also an idea of what it’s like to be a student.
“There’s certain things that are just really special about Pinewood that we don’t see in other schools,” Pinewood President Scott Riches said. “So we’re going back to change what we’ve been doing on social media on the website.”
While Pinewood’s new website will go public in August or September of 2024, Pinewood has already released the Shine magazine and the “Roots and Branches” alumni podcast to precede the launch.
The Shine magazine is headed by Pinewood Director of Communications Katy Wells and released its first issue in the fall. It features alumni and student stories called “Mission Moments,” which showcase people that best represent Pinewood’s mission.
“In the past at Pinewood, we’ve had newsletters, but we’ve never had a school magazine and that’s something that I wanted to accomplish,” Director of Communications Katy Wells. “So Shine is our new school magazine that covers the moments, the people and the programs that make our school hugely great.”
The magazine’s name was inspired by the idea that Pinewood students can “shine” in a small and personal environment due to Pinewood’s focus on the student body.
“At another school a student might not be able to try as many things as they can here,” Wells said. “They might not have the opportunity to shine and be a special person on campus.”
So far, the magazine has featured students of all grade levels at upper campus with short interviews describing their extracurricular activities, accomplishments and personalities.
“As we hear about things students are doing, we want to highlight the family atmosphere at the school,” Riches said. “So if there are opportunities where students are showing empathy or compassion for other students, those are things we want to highlight in the mission moments.”
The alumni podcast “Roots and Branches,” on the other hand, aims to inspire current and prospective students. It released its second episode on Jan. 14, featuring Jason Raffin, a Pinewood alumni and chef who supports the Maui community through his cooking. The first episode aired earlier in November and was an interview with Riches. Both episodes can be found on Spotify.
“My current parents have come to me and said that they enjoy the alumni stories and those mission moments,” Riches said. “There’s also been some appreciation even at the open house that we had in November.”
According to Riches, these changes are not just being made to better represent Pinewood’s current student body, but also to attract more mission-aligned families. The annual open house is a large part of this.
“It’s kind of the first entry point for prospective families to come on campus and really see us up close,” Director of Admissions Lisa Longbottom said. “And then if it sparks their interest and they apply, then parents have the opportunity to come on a parent tour with me.”
Unlike previous years, this past open house granted 20 minutes for prospective families to tour Pinewood’s student run clubs, allowing Pinewood to better showcase their student focused atmosphere.
“I think it’s really nice and it gives a good insight on the life of people at Pinewood,” sophomore William Lloyd said. “It’s not fake. It’s the best kind of thing that you can get from how your child would be at the school without actually going to the school.”
