Leader In Excellence Winners

Congratulations to Holly Stewart and New Trier Township High School District 203 for being selected from IL for this year's Skyward® Leader in Excellence Award! They will be honored at iCon in February!

Congratulations to all of the 2026 Leader in Excellence Winners!

Holly played a key role in transforming the district's process for managing employee time off allocations by training HR staff to use the "Allocate Time Off" feature in Qmlativ. Previously completed manually, this task was prone to errors and consumed significant staff time. Holly guided the project from start to finish, completing detailed setup and working side by side with HR to ensure data accuracy and understanding. Thanks to her efforts, what was once labor-intensive is now streamlined to the press of a button, saving time, eliminating mistakes, and improving confidence in employee records.

Holly has greatly expanded staff understanding of Skyward by working directly with employees across every department. She answers questions thoroughly, resolves issues, and teaches efficient processes. When she notices someone struggling, she steps in to demonstrate smarter methods. Her approachable style and patient guideance have made her the district's go-to resource for Skyward, empowering staff to feel confident using the system. Holly also demonstrated outstanding leadership during the district's transition to Qmlativ, dedicating countless hours to preparing and validating data for an accurate, seamless migration.

She collaborates with finance, HR, curriculum, and administration to align processes and meet state reporting requirements. Her proactive approach, attention to detail, and ability to coordinate across teams have established her as a trusted leader. Beyond technical expertise, Holly is valued for her patience, dedication, and genuine care, making her a mentor and collaborator whose impact is felt across every department. 

Over the years, staff at New Trier High School District 203 became experts on Skyward's SMS 2.0 solution, but on November 24th of this past year, they began building their expertise in Qmlativ as a newly-migrated district. While it was a learning curve for all users, the platform allowed the business, HR, and migration teams to bond through their mutual learning experiences.

As they worked through the migration process, New Trier discovered that Qmlativ was an integral tool for retrieving and accessing data quickly, simplifying the user experience, and freeing up time due to ease of access for all users. 

Even as New Trier HSD 203 is still navigating all the ins and outs of Qmlativ, they are still learning more about Qmlativ's features, and are continuing to advocate for and assist other districts to learn firsthand where and how they can see and use data in Qmlativ. 

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