Five Ways to Make Your School a Community Hub
Does your community regard your school as a community hub? If not, here are some tips to change that.
6/19/2019
Categories: High School Sports
Maximize the use of your video board and facilities by engaging your community. Your assets can reach not only students and faculty, but your entire neighborhood.
Reaching out to the community creates a bond. Students will have a better school experience when service organizations, businesses and non-profits join to support learning.
Try these 5 tips to help your school become the information hub of your community.
1. Friday night movies under the stars. Join a national movement. Muskego High School, Muskego, Wisconsin, recently held their first movie night (Wreck It Ralph) in May. Four hundred to 500 people attended.
When we asked Athletic Director Ryan McMillen if he’d advise other schools to host a movie, he said, “DO IT NOW! It is a great event, and your community will really appreciate it.”
2. Be the start or stopping point for a local run. Give runners an exceptional experience by having your video board add to the excitement. Displaying live results, photos and training tips. There is also the opportunity for the organization to make additional money from sponsorships.
Challenge students to volunteer and learn by being part of the event. Those familiar with video board production can help. And you’ll want to recruit other student volunteers to handle tasks such as food prep and setting up/ tearing down.
3. Consider renting out your field/gym to host events. Think big and small: seminars, events and regular meetings such as animal rescue, garden association, blood drives, recycling program and community cleanup. Students can help with this too, pulling together content relating to the event, including the group’s tagline or relevant tips.
4. An ideal space for volunteers to hold their meetings. The gym would be a great place for events such as an annual clothing sale for donations and food collections. This would be a good time to display messages from the sponsors of these organizations, upcoming events or public service announcements.
5. Host holiday events and town centennial celebrations. Use the video and sound system to run related trivia and announcements during the events. Does your town have a fireworks show? Display animated fireworks graphics with impressive sound to amp up the excitement.
If your idea passes the legal test and is a benefit to the school and community, you should consider it.