On Dec. 16, educators throughout the Blackstone Valley gathered at the Three Seasons Restaurant at the Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School to honor our Promising Practices Award Recipients for 2025, one of whom was Hopedale’s Heather Welch. 

Nominated by superintendents, curriculum directors, and principals, Promising Practices recipients are selected because they motivate and inspire students. Their lessons are snapshots of instruction that are engaging, encourage collaboration between students and staff, and demonstrate best practices in meeting student academic and social-emotional needs. Most important, the recipients’ lessons serve as exemplars in cultivating higher order thinking skills across all content areas. 

At the Promising Practices celebration, the recipients give an overview of their lessons and try to “plant a seed” of new and innovative teaching practices into the minds of the other educators attending the event. This year’s Hopedale recipient, Nurse Heather Welch was recognized for her life-saving contributions to student safety. The honor highlights her tireless work in implementing Project ADAM and the Healthy Hearts Initiative within the Bright Beginnings Center, establishing a gold standard for cardiac emergency preparedness.

Project ADAM (Automated Defibrillators in Adam’s Memory) is a national program dedicated to preventing sudden cardiac arrest deaths in schools. In addition to emergency response, the Healthy Hearts Initiative emphasizes proactive wellness. Welch has been instrumental in:

• Staff Training: Coordinating comprehensive CPR and AED certification for teachers and administrators.

• System Drills: Implementing "Cardiac Emergency Response Drills" to ensure the school's response team can reach any location on campus with life-saving equipment in under three minutes.

• Student Education: Introducing age-appropriate ways to talk about heart health and the importance of "helpers" in the school clinic.

This award serves as a formal "thank you" from the community for her commitment to keeping our children’s hearts, and their futures, safe.

Submitted by Hopedale Public Schools