“Love Letters to Peekskill” Campaign to Inspire Updated PCSD Logo

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and if you live in Peekskill, you might have noticed red valentines collection boxes placed at local establishments asking you to express what you love about the City. The “Love Letters to Peekskill” campaign is the Peekskill City School District’s heartfelt effort to reach out to the community to learn more about the love residents hold for Peekskill and its schools.

The campaign began in school buildings in 2017 as a collaborative effort between the District and the Peekskill Parent Teacher Organization, and was a success with students and staff. Last year, hundreds of valentines were submitted detailing the many reasons to love Peekskill schools. This year, as the District prepares to re-brand and give their logo an updated look, PCSD decided to extend the campaign out into the community to gather the thoughts and memories of those outside of school buildings as well. The sentiments of the community will be combined with those of students and staff and passed on to a team of volunteers with design experience who will be helping to update the school district’s logo.

“Just as popular brands have refreshed their look over the years, we wanted to breathe new life into our District’s image,” said PCSD Communication Specialist Ms. Laura Belfiore. “Our schools and the community have a collaborative relationship, so we felt it was important that all stakeholders have an opportunity to express what they care about as we consider how to visually express the image of our school district. By asking those outside of our schools to join in the campaign, we’re able to honor our community, as well as the history of Peekskill and our school system. After all, many of our community members are alumni themselves.”

The District made a special effort to place the boxes at some of Peekskill’s most popular locations, including the Field Library, the Peekskill Coffee House, BeanRunner Café, Kurzhals Coffee, Hudson River Health Care, Spins Hudson and La Placita (C-Town). Each box features English and Spanish instructions and valentines, as well as crayons and pens.

“In addition to wanting the whole community to be able to participate, we knew it was important to give people without access to technology a way to be involved,” Belfiore said. “People are welcome to post their own Peekskill inspired valentines along with our campaign hashtags, but there are paper versions as well as not to exclude the less tech savvy individuals out there.”

In addition to asking the community to express their feelings, the District is also seeking the public’s assistance in finding original images of the Oakside Owl mascot and the Woodside Wildcat mascot, both of which will be reinstated to join the District’s solely utilized elementary level mascot, the Hillcrest Hawk. The Red Devil will remain the mascot for the middle and high school.

Student and staff valentines will be collected on Feb. 13 and shared on the School District’s social media pages, while the community boxes will remain out until February 15.

For those wishing to participate electronically, simply write or draw what you love about Peekskill and post it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #IheartPeekskill. For those with school related love to share, tag your posts #IheartPCSD. You can also email submission to PR@peekskillschools.org. Be sure to follow @PeekskillCSD to see valentine submissions later this week.