One of the hardest things to do is to convince your activity group that they have done a good job of running many events. You seem to need a laundry list of activities in the middle of their year to convince them that they have made an impact on the school. Visitors to the school may see posters for events that are happening right now, but they won’t know about the great theme day you ran last month.
At KCI, Pierre Sandor picked a well-travelled hallway and hung 62 feet of clothesline with support hooks every six feet, high up along the ceiling. Every time his leadership group completes an event, the organizers of that event use a clothespin to hang a poster they used, a small prop, or a picture to recall the event and its date. By the year’s end, the line is crowded with weird and wacky stuff that leads to pride of accomplishment in the leaders. At a glance, visitors see evidence of a vibrant, fun school full of activity. Students can’t complain that “nothing every happens here” because the year’s history is right in front of them.
As they walk by the activity clothesline, students who always participate fall into “remember when” stories. Students who never participate walk past a daily reminder that they are missing out on something. Future events can be hung at a distance down the line with a simple “coming soon” message or the specific date such as a prom held in June.
practical arts students helped with much of the labor and the art teachers used the project for several students individual portfolio components. We had 96 one foot squares divided between elementary students, high school students and local community members. Art instruction was provided to the students upon request. The mural is 12’x 8’ and is attached to the side of a local business. I can provide more details if anyone is interested (