Spotlight on: Jim Conrey

For my final Spotlight column, I couldn’t have picked a better person to write about than the person who is literally known as the “man who knows it all.” Jim Conrey is the public information coordinator at Stevenson High School and has been since 1994.

Basically, he’s the man with the information and can answer or find out just about anything you need to know. Many of you may recognize his name as the sender and writer of the SHS Daily Digest, which is emailed almost daily to more than 1,500 readers. 

That blast of information he sends serves as reminders for both parents and students about upcoming events, varsity sports, educational news, changes in policies, ticket sales and more. But his job doesn’t end there. 

“My primary job is to handle the main external communications vehicles for Stevenson, which includes our website, our weekly e-Minuteman newsletter, our Facebook (stevensonhs) and two Twitter accounts (@stevensonhs and @aeshssports) and the Daily Digest, also available in blog format," he said. "I also work regularly with the media, give tours to visitors, and work with my assistant to produce images for the Route 22 marquee and TV monitors inside the school.” Yep, I’ll say he’s a busy man.

Before working at Stevenson, Jim was a professional journalist, so he’s well versed at collecting and distributing information. He said that the manner in which he receives information hasn’t changed much since then. 

“It’s a combination of items submitted to me and those where I do the legwork," he said. "The reality is, about 90 percent of information falls into my lap. This is the busiest news beat I ever worked on.”

Being part of a school system for so long has enabled Jim to see the variances the school has made in so many different levels. 

“The school has certainly changed since I arrived," he said. "When I joined Stevenson, the East Building — which includes the Performing Arts Center, the Patriot Natatorium and a 60-classroom wing — was under construction. In terms of enrollment, I've ridden both sides of the roller coaster. In 1994, when I started, we had 2,848 students, and they were literally shoulder-to-shoulder in the hallways between class periods. By 2005, our enrollment had grown to 4,573, and we were the fourth- or fifth-largest high school in the state. Now, we're back down to 3,786 and heading for a plateau of around 3,600 or so. That's been interesting.”

He’s always been impressed with the students and parents at Stevenson and hasn’t seen much change in them since his start over 18 years ago. “The Stevenson community has had high expectations of its high school for a long time, and will continue to do so. Despite the pressure, I find the students to be pretty well adjusted. In fact, thinking back to when I was a high school student, I'm amazed at how many students I encounter who are not only intelligent, but also well spoken and poised.”

I’ve been lucky enough to work with Jim on some projects and you’d never know just how full his plate is. He’s charming, kind, funny and such an asset to our Stevenson community.

Outside of work he is studying to be a permanent deacon in the Catholic church and hopes to be ordained in 2016. Amen to that!