Debra Bates-Schrott '87
Loyalty to Mechanicsburg High School
Debra Bates-Schrott has designed the Mechanicsburg Alumni Association's annual newsletter, "ROAR," for many years, and the Association saves thousands of dollars each year due to Debra's generous contribution of time and expertise.
Initially, Debra designed the current format, offering her advice and services for developing a more current mailing piece for the MAHSAA. Her suggestion was something that would stand out in the mail and offer the opportunity to hold more content for the alumni reader. She now donates her staff design team to input the Board's information and statistics and design each issue. Gone are the days when many volunteers hand-addressed and added stamps to the mailer. As technology improved, high school computer classes entered alumni addresses and printed labels, followed by 40-50 volunteers spending a full day to attach labels to the mailer, then sorting the mailers by zip code.
Thanks to Debbie and her organization, we now prepare the information for printing, proof the copy a number of times, supply our mailing list by way of the internet to the company who customizes the mailing labels and distributes to the post office. The process is still time-consuming for a small group of volunteers, but we can now mail many thousands of pieces annually and easily, thanks to the loyalty of Debra Bates-Schrott.
For more that 16 years, Debra has been working in the creative industry. Six years ago, Debra founded Bates Creative Group (BCG), located just outside of Washington, DC in Silver Spring, Maryland. It is a creative design and communications firm specializing in brand development, publication, interactive design and creative consulting. BCG has won more than 70 awards from Folio: magazine, Print magazine, the Art Director's Club of Metropolitan Washington, to name a few. A roster of nearly one hundred clients includes Cisco, U.S. Marine Corps, The American Marketing Association, and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). Founder Debra Bates-Schrott is a sought-after speaker at numerous industry conferences and is a senior consultant for Sabatier Consulting. While many individuals in general have benefited from Debbie's expertise, it is the Alumni Association in particular which has certainly benefited from the talents and design efforts of her generosity.
Debra lives in Ellicott City, MD, with husband Eric and their two sons, Connor and Tyler. Her parents are graduates of MHS, father Richard Bates in '57 and mother Janice Anderson Bates in '61.
Initially, Debra designed the current format, offering her advice and services for developing a more current mailing piece for the MAHSAA. Her suggestion was something that would stand out in the mail and offer the opportunity to hold more content for the alumni reader. She now donates her staff design team to input the Board's information and statistics and design each issue. Gone are the days when many volunteers hand-addressed and added stamps to the mailer. As technology improved, high school computer classes entered alumni addresses and printed labels, followed by 40-50 volunteers spending a full day to attach labels to the mailer, then sorting the mailers by zip code.
Thanks to Debbie and her organization, we now prepare the information for printing, proof the copy a number of times, supply our mailing list by way of the internet to the company who customizes the mailing labels and distributes to the post office. The process is still time-consuming for a small group of volunteers, but we can now mail many thousands of pieces annually and easily, thanks to the loyalty of Debra Bates-Schrott.
For more that 16 years, Debra has been working in the creative industry. Six years ago, Debra founded Bates Creative Group (BCG), located just outside of Washington, DC in Silver Spring, Maryland. It is a creative design and communications firm specializing in brand development, publication, interactive design and creative consulting. BCG has won more than 70 awards from Folio: magazine, Print magazine, the Art Director's Club of Metropolitan Washington, to name a few. A roster of nearly one hundred clients includes Cisco, U.S. Marine Corps, The American Marketing Association, and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). Founder Debra Bates-Schrott is a sought-after speaker at numerous industry conferences and is a senior consultant for Sabatier Consulting. While many individuals in general have benefited from Debbie's expertise, it is the Alumni Association in particular which has certainly benefited from the talents and design efforts of her generosity.
Debra lives in Ellicott City, MD, with husband Eric and their two sons, Connor and Tyler. Her parents are graduates of MHS, father Richard Bates in '57 and mother Janice Anderson Bates in '61.