The following was submitted by Tricia Phelps, Renaissance Adviser at Licking Valley High School in Newark, OH

Over the past few months at Licking Valley High School, we asked our staffulty to pick a student that encourages them to come to school every day. When the staff member had chosen a student, we had that student schedule a time to meet with the teacher to be outside of the classroom. By nature, most of the students assumed that being called away from the classroom out into the hallway was due to something bad they had done. Staff members would then read a letter that they had prepared, and the interaction was recorded. The students were then given the letter that was read aloud to them.

We had a student from Renaissance class combine all of the submissions using the Imovie app on her phone. Our goal was to publicize the video during teacher appreciation week. Overall this experience was great for everyone involved. It was an opportunity to showcase the love the staff has for all of our students at Licking Valley High School. The feedback from the students involved was overwhelming and very much appreciated. Parents of the students reached out to individual staff members thanking them for selecting their son or daughter. The final video was uploaded to a google shared drive and previewed to the staff members and students district wide, then we released the video to Facebook and then to YouTube:

This project took time and a lot of patience. However, the payoff has been priceless. While not all teachers participated in this project everyone was very pleased with the final video and agreed that what was put together showed a great reflection of the staff. They appreciate the time and commitment that every students give to us as a staff each and every day.

As the school adviser I will say this Renaissance program is successful due to the commitment of the students in the class and with the support that is given by the staff and administration.