How one school unified its volunteers and events under one easy platform

When you meet Katy Reid, her calm confidence and warm enthusiasm make it easy to see why families at Ascension Academy trust her. As the Director of Admission and Financial Aid at this independent, college-preparatory school in Amarillo, Texas, Katy has been helping students and parents navigate the path to Ascension for 14 years.

But her journey here started in a very different world.

For the first half of her career, Katy worked in finance, first as a controller for a commodities firm, where she managed financial compliance and reporting, as well as client currency hedging and overnight investments. It was challenging, market-driven analytical work that sharpened her attention to detail and multitasking. But when her daughter was born, Katy decided to step away from corporate life to be a full-time mom.

During those years at home, she poured her energy into her daughter’s school and local philanthropic activities, discovering how deeply she loved supporting children and education. “I realized that working with kids and helping families succeed was where I wanted to be,” she says.

When she was ready to return to work, that calling led her to Ascension Academy. She began teaching middle and high school students, guiding them through subjects like accounting, study skills, and speech—an easy fit given her professional background. And when the admissions role opened up, it was the perfect combination of her analytical and interpersonal skills. “It was a pivotal time for us, and it was a natural fit for me,” Katy recalls. “I loved that I could use my financial background and still work directly with families.” In conversation, it’s clear that Katy finds crafting each new class of students deeply rewarding. She’s passionate about making the dream of attending a true college preparatory school available to as many mission-appropriate students as possible.

A Need for Consistency

Before PlanHero, the school’s various departments used a patchwork of different signup tools—whatever each staff member or parent volunteer happened to prefer. “We had Meal Train for one group, SignUpGenius for another—it was all over the place,” Katy laughs. “It was really inefficient, and there was no consistency year-to-year or event-to-event.”

Katy and the administrative team wanted to bring everything under one umbrella—a single, organized platform that would streamline all volunteer and event coordination for the school. That search led them to PlanHero. “Our PlanHero contact was a fantastic partner in the implementation phase to explore the platform and all of the possibilities for us. We quickly adopted and deployed PlanHero to all of our departments and parent groups.”

One Platform, Many Uses

Today, Ascension Academy’s admission office, athletics programs, parent association, development office, and daily Cardinal Café volunteers organize their events through PlanHero. Ascension administrators also use it to coordinate parent volunteers for admissions events, student and family community service projects, and any event that benefits from a coordinated volunteer standpoint.

“It’s been so much easier to manage than having many disparate tools,” she says. “And it has made the transition from one school year to the next so much smoother. Administrators or new parent volunteers just duplicate the previous year’s signup, make a few changes if needed, set new dates, and we’re done!”

Parents have echoed that sentiment, too—reporting that PlanHero is “very easy to use and navigate.”

Looking Ahead

Ascension Academy is excited to experiment with PlanHero’s new text messaging feature, which allows organizers to send quick reminders and updates directly to participants. “That’s going to be so useful moving forward,” Katy says. “Anything that helps parents stay informed and engaged is a win.”

For Katy, PlanHero has become more than just a time-saving tool—it’s part of how Ascension Academy maintains its community spirit. “Our volunteers are what make our school run,” she says. “PlanHero helps us keep everything organized so we can focus on what really matters—our students.”

Favorite PlanHero feature: Easy duplication of past signups

Impact: Unified volunteer management across all groups

Looking forward to: Text messaging reminders

PlanHero helps schools like Ascension Academy simplify volunteer coordination so educators and parents can spend less time organizing—and more time inspiring.