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.
2026 OST Champions
To learn more about each one, click on their names below.
Afterschool Administrator of the Year:
Aimee Lussier School’s Out! Program Director - School's Out in Ossipee, NH
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Site Coordinator of the Year:
Kelsey Johnstone Extended Education Program Coordinator - White Birch Center in Henniker, NH
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Direct Service Staff of the Year:
Jamie Dunham Group Leader for YMCA School's Out in Stratham, NH
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Up and Coming Advocate:
Alisha Langill Project Promise Director at Project Promise in Bristol, NH
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Program of the Year:
Save the Date for Upcoming Afterschool Professionals Week
2027: April 19-23, 2027
2028: April 17-21, 2028
2029: April 16-20, 2029
2030: April 15-19, 2030
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.
