Imagine walking into a building, a room where the walls are plain, dull, and have no excitement or appeal. Imagine being in that same room with a lot of people, including students who all wear different shirts (likely showing plenty of logos) and have different backgrounds and upbringings, and yet no one speaks to each other. Your schools’ logos, if even present, probably have at least five different varieties!
The Right Environment to Build Relationships
We all feel more comfortable in an environment that we know, with people that believe what we do and strive for the same mission and goals. When they feel comfortable speaking with each other and able to open up in a more personal sense.
At Logan Middle School in the last 5 years, we have improved our outcomes by building relationships with students and increasing student voice in leadership roles. We’ve seen an increase in 42% over the last 5 years in students who believe that there is an adult in the building that cares about them. In 2017, 55% of students agreed or strongly agreed with this statement, and now in 2021, 97% of students agree or strongly agree with this statement.
We have also increased our teacher involvement by placing teachers in leadership roles (from 45% to 100%). We have also expanded our communication by utilizing not one but five communication platforms and increased our following by over 21,000.
The Power of a School Logo
We simplified our logo—our brand—and through our coaches and community partners made sure it was the only one seen on everything we did, athletically and academically. We utilized events at games to make sure our community was able to not only see but wear our brand.
We know that students work harder when there is a connection with a teacher or with their school. We know that communities support their school when there is a connection. We also know that when there is a common theme, or brand, everyone will rally around the common good.
Join us to find out more about our successes and how your school can achieve success with relationships and branding.
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Logan Middle School was named a Model School by ICLE for 2022, and will present their success story at the 30th annual Model Schools Conference, June 26–29, 2022 at the Swan & Dolphin Resort at Walt Disney World in Orlando. View all 2022 Model Schools, Innovative Districts and Epic Educators and learn more about the conference at this link.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of HMH.
