John Bush
Principal
Marshall County High School
Lewisburg, TN

What has Jostens Renaissance impacted most in your school?
Our culture & climate has been impacted the most, which has in turn moved our school’s academic performance from one of the lowest performing schools in Tennessee six years ago to a nationally ranked high school this year.

What’s the best piece of advice you would give to someone starting Jostens Renaissance in their school?
Set high expectations for your school and yourself and do not settle for less!

How has Jostens Renaissance impacted you, personally and professionally? 
Jostens Renaissance has made a lasting impact on me, but hopefully it has helped me make a lasting impact on the students I serve.  A director of schools in a neighboring district to ours is well known for saying, “Find the good and praise it!”  If there was one phrase I could use to describe Jostens Renaissance, I think this would be well-suited.  Jostens Renaissance has transformed me in both my personal and professional life to be watching for the positive things in life and at school.  As a result, I am not pre-occupied on what’s going wrong but focused on what is going well and how we can further improve outcomes.  Most issues are really only as big as we make them.  This personal transformation has carried over into our school as well.  So we try to make positive things the big deal we focus on.  We’re not just in the school business, just as Jostens is not simply in the ring business, but we are ALL in the kid business!  That’s why Jostens Renaissance is not a program but a way of life.

Dr. Darrin Peppard
Superintendent
West Grand School District
Kremmling, CO

What has Jostens Renaissance impacted the most at your school(s)?
Jostens Renaissance shifted the mindset from negativity to looking for and highlighting positives.

What’s the best piece of advice you would give to someone starting Jostens Renaissance in their school?
Two things. First, go all in. Don’t hesitate or take baby steps – dive in the deep end. Second, get an administrator on board and involved; leadership is critical to long-term success.

How has Jostens Renaissance impacted you, personally and professionally? What role has it played in your life?
Jostens Renaissance has changed who I am – as a leader, as a person, my outlook on life. I have often told the story of the Road to Awesome but it really began in 2007 at my first Jostens Renaissance National Conference. That event caused a fork in the road, or two paths to diverge. I could have stayed on the path filled with negative energy and pessimistic thoughts, but I chose the Road to Awesome. I have never looked back!

What’s your favorite quote?
“Two roads diverged in the woods and I took the road less traveled. And it hurt, man! Really bad. Rocks, thorns and glass. Not cool, Robert Frost! But what if there are two roads? I want to be on the one that leads to awesome.” – Kid President

Dr. James Spencer
Principal
Sedgefield Middle School
Goose Creek, SC

What has Jostens Renaissance impacted the most at your school(s)?
Jostens Renaissance has improved the climate and culture of all of my schools in a positive and meaningful manner and thus improved the quality of education we have provided for our students.  In addition, Renaissance has had a direct positive impact on the morale of our staffulty.

What’s the best piece of advice you would give to someone starting Jostens Renaissance in their school?
Start yesterday, then take it one day at a time and you will quickly discover, why we do, what we do, in Renaissance schools!

How has Jostens Renaissance impacted you, personally and professionally? What role has it played in your life?
On a personal level, Renaissance taught me to always be the best version of myself I could possibly be.  Renaissance, early in my administrative career, helped me to understand and appreciate the immense importance of the climate and culture of a school and further that we have the ability to be intentional and develop the climate and culture in a positive manner for our schools.   Renaissance has also positively affected my personal life because so much of what we do in Renaissance can be paralleled in our own personal lives.

On a professional level, I learned that despite your best efforts to improve the student learning within a school, nothing will change until the climate and culture of the school are receptive to change.  In five schools and over 20 years as a principal, I saw dramatic increases in student scores, decreases in student discipline, increases in staff morale and I could go on and on because we first established a positive, welcoming, and inclusive school environment through the power of Renaissance!  And most importantly, I witnessed so many individual students learn to believe in themselves, become comfortable in their own skin,  and become the great person they were meant to be!

Previous Hall of Fame Inductees