Meet Alexis Andrianopoulos: Your link to Brandywine schools

As the public information officer for the Brandywine School District, Alexis Andrianopoulos is well-known at the Community News. We thought you'd also want to get to know the person responsible for communicating with you - the public - about what's happening in your school district.

Q) What are your responsibilities as PIO for the Brandywine School District?
A) One of the things I like most about the position is that it's very fluid. No two days are ever alike. That being said, my main responsibilities are serving as spokesperson for the district, working with the media, developing publications for the district and its programs, strategic planning, maintaining and updating our website (brandywineschools.org), acting as a liaison between the district and several stakeholder groups, and publicizing - through various methods - the great things that are happening in our schools.

Q) How did you get into public relations? How did you discover it was a career you wanted to pursue?
A) As an undergraduate I had a vague idea about public relations and thought it seemed like a good fit for my skills and personality. After graduating from Haverford College, I spent two years in a graduate program in communications and learned more about public relations. The more I learned, the more it seemed like something I wanted to pursue.  Luckily, my instinct was right. I get to use my writing and creative abilities while educating people about the wonderful work we do.

Q) What is your single biggest day-to-day challenge?  
A) Finding enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do. There are so many wonderful schools, programs, employees and students in the Brandywine School District. As I learn more about all of them, I am more and more inspired and excited about working here, and I want everyone to know all of the wonderful things that are happening in our buildings.

Q) What are five adjectives your colleagues would use to describe you?

A) (I asked a few coworkers for help on this one.)  Personable, helpful, honest, knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

Q) Divulge a guilty pleasure.
A) Ice cream and my world-famous peanut butter brownies (not necessarily together... although that works too!)

Q) You're a massive Flyers fan? Who is your favorite Flyer of all-time and why?  
A) Hands down, Rod Brind'Amour.  His work ethic was (and still is) legendary. As a Flyer, he worked his hardest every day and gave it his all. I have nothing but respect for that kind of effort.  In fact, even though he wasn't wearing a Flyers' uniform at the time, I cried when I saw him lift the Stanley Cup in 2006 as captain of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Q) Name three people you'd like to meet and tell us why?
A) Bono, for using his celebrity to better the world and for advocating for those who too often are overlooked and forgotten; Abraham Lincoln, for standing up for what he believed was right; and Jim Valvano, for inspiring me and countless others with his Jimmy V Foundation and its message of "Don't give up. Don't ever give up."