When Colby Gilardian, the communications media specialist for Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD), stepped into his current role, he had a vision for the job.
“I’m an alum; I’m really excited to give back to the school that gave me so much,” he told the Courier. “A lot of our alumni feel the same way.”
To meet that goal, Gilardian has focused his work on showcasing the district’s wins and accomplishments. Those have included informing the community about where Beverly Hills High School (BHHS) seniors are heading for college and celebrating successful events on BHUSD campuses.
Most recently, Gilardian has developed a social media series in which BHUSD alumni are paired with current middle and high school students who share the same career interests for a filmed conversation.
So far, he said, the conversations have been inspiring.
“You can see that on-camera chemistry,” he said. “You can feel it.”
The idea for the series came to Gilardian as soon as he started his current position. Noticing that the news coming out of BHUSD tended to focus on the negative rather than the positive, he decided to work to change that.
“It’s very important to talk about [problems]; that’s critical and needs our attention,” he said. “But our students are winning every single day. That’s been my goal, to showcase their wins. Students are one of our most important constituents.”
To identify student participants for the social media series, Gilardian said he relies on administrative staff at the schools.
“Our high school and middle school administrative teams know our kids so well,” he said. “They know their interests … I will say, ‘Hey, I have an alumnus’ [in a certain field], and they will say, ‘I have the perfect student for you.’”
On the alumni side, Gilardian consults the extensive network of the BHHS Alumni Association. The district’s graduates keep in close touch, and many have gone into exciting fields after graduating.
“For the alumni who stay in touch, the network is very strong,” said Gilardian.
Many alumni want to give back but don’t know how. For people who fall into that group, teaming up for a conversation with an existing student can provide the perfect opportunity.
The episodes are filmed at BHHS, and for many former students, it’s a trip down memory lane.
“We are trying to find an iconic part of campus that represents what [the student and alumni] both went through,” Gilardian said.
The first episode of the social media series, which Gilardian expects will air in the next week or two, was filmed on the high school’s second-floor patio. The episode features BHHS student Gunnar Walmsley and alumna Antonia Carlotta.
Carlotta is a film historian and the great-grandniece of Carl Laemmle, the film producer and co-founder of Universal Studios. She runs a YouTube channel, Universally Me, in which she delves into her family’s history and the history of the film industry in general.
Walmsley is on the broadcast media pathway at BHHS. When the two spoke, Walmsley was “beyond excited and passionate about the topic,” said Gilardian.
Going forward, Gilardian hopes the series will serve not only to connect alumni and students and showcase BHHS graduates’ accomplishments, but also to bring the community together.
“The schools, in my opinion, are the center of the city,” he said. “We want to strengthen that connection, that bond.”
For now, student participants in the social media series are limited to middle school and high school, but Gilardian hopes to film as many episodes as possible and could see a future in which the opportunity is opened up to younger students who may be interested.
Episodes will air on BHUSD’s website, YouTube channel, Instagram and Facebook. Alumni who are interested in participating can email alumni@bhusd.org.
