Top 10 Ways to Grow School Spirit From Afar

When my children’s school closed in March, the president and vice president of our parent association were adamant about maintaining a sense of community among students and families while social distancing.

They came up with a virtual Spirit Week that they hosted on the parent association’s Facebook page, encouraging families to post pictures of their children participating in the different activities comprising Spirit Week. The idea was fantastic, and it got me thinking about other ways to nurture school spirit virtually.

 Here are 10 ideas to consider for your school:

 1. Participate in the Boost Educators Challenge

Encourage each student’s family to challenge the rest of your school’s families to give their teacher(s) a shout out or thank you over the school’s social channels. We started this challenge at Booster. Check out BoostEducatorsChallenge.com for details.

 2. Host a School Spirit Week on Facebook and Instagram 

Host a daily fun activity for students or families to do from home and post their work on the school’s Facebook or Instagram page. An easy way to incentivize kids to play along is by selecting one participant at random to receive a special prize.

 3. Start a “Five Days of Gratitude” Project

It feels good to do things for others, so why not launch a card or letter writing project where students write letters or make cards to send to frontline and essential workers like doctors and nurses. You can select the group that’s done the most for your community during the pandemic.

 4. Open a Commemorative Online Pop-up Shop

You might consider an online pop-up shop for Kindergarten to fifth graders to purchase items to remember this milestone year. If you want to make it a fundraiser, funds raised might be used for school needs like e-learning initiatives, food for students in need or perhaps a local food bank or other charity. Check out Booster Spirit Wear for some milestone celebration ideas.

 5. Host a Virtual Graduation Ceremony

This could be an invitation-only event hosted on Zoom or through another online conferencing provider so school families can watch the graduation remarks live. You might also consider creating yard signs for newly-graduated students, if it feels right for your school community.

6. Feature a Teacher & Student Talent Showcase

You probably have some super talented teachers and students at your school. Why not host a talent show night using Zoom or another online conferencing provider that will allow many people to watch and cheer participants on? If you want to make it interesting, allow the audience members to vote for their favorite acts!

 7. Start an “Art Smiles” Project

Consider hosting a school-wide art project. Assign each class a special theme to celebrate in art. Your school could donate the student artwork to a local nursing home or senior living facility near the school. This will “wow” the residents and allow your students to have their artwork on display. Check out this article about seniors receiving similar special gifts.

8. Do a Give Back Spirit Event

If your school wants to join together on an initiative that drives school spirit and raises funds that can be used for essential school community needs (i.e., Chromebooks, internet access, food for families, e-learning platforms, etc.) or even a local charity, the new, fully virtual (but still super fun!) Boosterthon At Home program might be an option for your school.

 9. Host a Virtual Career Day

This could be hosted for a single class or the entire school or both. What a great opportunity to have students learn about different job functions! This is another opportunity to showcase folks who’re making a difference in the community. You likely have many parents at your school you can honor.

 10. Start a Virtual Family Trivia Competition

An online trivia competition between grade-level families or play teachers vs. students. There are many services out there (take a look at Crowdpurr) if you want to get a membership and even customize the questions.

Any member of a school community can help boost school spirit and keep your school culture thriving. If you’re a PTA leader, perhaps you can get one or two of these ideas going to end the school year on a high note. If you’re a parent, perhaps you can share the ideas in this blog with your school administrators and/or PTA leaders so they can consider a spirit activity or two.

What I do know is that the social component of school is harder to “do” remotely, but every bit as important (and memorable) to students as distance learning. So why not rally school communities around something uplifting and fun to end the year on a high note?

 


Kim Miller works full-time for Booster and is a mom with two children, ages four and seven. 

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