Afterschool Professionals Appreciation Week (APAW)
Join us in celebrating our Afterschool Superheroes for their dedication to working with youth during out-of-school hours and explore the bios of past Afterschool Heroes to learn more about their work.
Why Celebrate?
Afterschool Professionals Appreciation Week is a time to recognize, appreciate and advocate for those who work with young people during out-of-school hours. The week is marked by celebrations, public relations, and advocacy efforts encouraging appreciation and support for afterschool professionals who make a profound difference in the lives of youth.
OST Champions
Each year, the New Hampshire Afterschool Network honors outstanding individuals and programs through the New Hampshire OST Champions Awards, recognizing their dedication, leadership, and impact in out-of-school time. Award recipients are celebrated during NHAN’s Spring Convention and Celebration, where we come together as a statewide community to lift up the work happening across New Hampshire.
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In 2026, NHAN will be doing things a little differently, introducing new award categories to reflect the diverse roles, strengths, and contributions that make out-of-school time possible. Nominations are open to individuals and programs from nonprofit, public, private, faith-based, and child care settings that support youth during non-school hours across the state. See the list below to nomination categories.
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Afterschool Program of the Year
Afterschool Program Administrator of the Year
School Day Administrator of the Year
Direct Service Staff of the Year
NH Afterschool Community Champion of the Year
School Day Personnel of the Year
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Past recipients are not eligible to receive the same award category in subsequent years.
2025 OST Champions
Charm Emiko Founder and Owner, Project S.T.O.R.Y
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Ben Gentry Director, College Access Programs, The Chandler Center, Breakthrough Manchester College-Bound
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Tina Rouvalis Governor Wentworth Regional School District – ESOL Teacher
Save the Date for Upcoming Afterschool Professionals Week
2026: April 20-24, 2026
2027: April 19-23, 2027
Help Highlight Afterschool!
A Social Media Toolkit For Your Program
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Right click on an image and then select “Save Image As…” to save it to your desktop. Then, you can upload it to any social media platform you’d like! Feel free to use our suggested post text or think of captions of your own. You can also download these images from Canva here.
