H-F High School Welcomes Former Park District Employee to Staff

A familiar face can be seen gracing the staff of these days, as former employee Nicole Castagna is the school's new public relations and human resources assistant.

“I will definitely miss the Park District. My job there began the same month my family moved to Homewood, so it was instrumental in helping me explore my new community,” said Castagna.

Park District Executive Director Debbie Kopas said Castagna accomplished a great deal during her time on her staff. Among other things, Castagna revamped the Park District’s website to make it more user-friendly and increased both the quality and quantity of the seasonal Choices brochure.

“Since the Park District and H-F High School work on many projects together, it’s nice to know she’ll be staying 'in district,' continuing to provide quality work to the citizens of the H-F community,” said Kopas. “In all honesty, those of us at the Park District wish Nicole nothing but the best in this career move.”

David Thieman, the high school's director of human resources and also a former employee of H-F Park District, said he thinks Castagna’s 15 years of public relations experience and understanding of the H-F community will help the high school improve its communications efforts.

"We are very pleased to add Nicole Castagna to the H-F family,” said Thieman. “Nicole's future is very bright and we are very excited to have her on board.”

However, perhaps no one is as excited for this new career move as Castagna herself. According to Castagna, she is looking forward to the new public relations challenges of the education field and to bridging the communication gap between the school, residents and community.

“There is a lot to do here: newsletters, websites, social media,” said Castagna. “I'm eager to help spread the news about all the great things going on at this high school.”