Distinguished Service Awards:  April 25, 2018

Kathy Bystrom- Fairview Northland Hospitals and Clinics

Active member of our Learning and Living committee.   She has taken a proactive role in collaborating between the school district and Northland Fairview Lakes and Fairview Northland medical centers.  She originally initiated a meeting with superintendent Espe when she first began in her role as Community Health Manager for Fairview Northland Medical Center.  

Kathy lead our Learning and Living team in the development of a framework to align the career wheel that defined, at  the center or the wheel the core social emotional outcomes per developmental age level. How we develop over time the essential skills to be a successful member of society.  On numerous occasions she sat with our team to discuss what the key character traits looked like and how, throughout a child’s education, these essential skills could be integrated into our schools curriculum.   She lead the team in defining the skills, will and aptitudes necessary to become a valuable member of our local workforce and community.

Kathy has jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with a walking initiative called Princeton Walks.   Clinicians, interns, Community Education and local community members come together on Monday evenings during the school year to provide exercise, education, relationship building and overall better health to our community.  Kathy has also hosted several classes including a Living Well for Better Health and a Mental Health First Aid class within our schools to bring the adult community into the schools and build community Health.

Both went to the Fairview Foundation and secured training for our district on Lifelines, an evidence based suicide prevention program, the district has now adopted.  

Both of the volunteers of distinction we are honoring this evening are very deserving of our recognition and it is my pleasure to award Kathy  Bystrom this small token for her very large contribution to advocating for and building community capacity by fostering business and school relationships in many different ways.   

Chelsey Heinen:  Crystal Cabinets

Chelsey Heinen is the HRIS Administrator/HR Generalist for Crystal Cabinet Works, Inc.  She has been an endless supporter of students through her position, and she always finds ways to involve her company in projects that the Learning and Living committee sponsors.

An early adopter, Chelsey is the first to volunteer her company.  A Princeton High School graduate, she was integral in success planning for the unprecedented success of this year’s teacher Career Crawl, where teachers were so excited about what they learned in relation to social and emotional skills and what Crystal does, they arranged for students to visit the business as well!

Chelsey led Crystal Cabinets to be the first business partner to agree to partner formally on student internships and to develop a Princeton High School career pathway in manufacturing, empowering us to apply for grant funding and kick start designing a High School full of meaningful career pathway options for students.

Featured on our Career Pathways video on our website, Chelsey told us how she planned to go into healthcare initially, and later decided upon human resources.  She also mentioned how many teachers and administrators had a profound impact on her life.  We are so fortunate that Chelsey found her way to her position at Crystal.

We honor you tonight, Chelsey, as you have had a profound impact on us!  Thank you for your service as you connect Crystal to Princeton Public Schools.