5 minutes! That’s all it takes for me to know if a school has strong culture or not.

After visiting over 1,000 schools I can feel it.

Great culture requires a strong admin team and a tightly connected community, but more often than not it is created by the Director of Activities or Activities Director or Student Council Advisor. Whatever your district might title this person, their job is one in the same, and for me they are the single most direct path to strong school culture. I’ve seen countless Activities Directors spark school culture in a matter of days!

That said…the average lifespan of a Director of Activities is just 3.5 years.

Why? It’s usually because they get burnt out, don’t feel supported, or (even worse) get stonewalled on their initiatives and ideas.

Yet, they are crucial, and I mean CRUCIAL, to building school culture.

Which brings us to our simple technique: support your Activities Director.

Make sure they know you’ve made activities a priority. It’s a simple jumping off point, but it can dictate the tone of the entire year.

In an effort to help even more, TEEN TRUTH has brought on veteran Activities Director, Stephen Amundson of Tulare Western High School. He will be writing TEEN TRUTH blogs to inspire, motivate, and inform you throughout this school year. Beyond the blogs, he will also offer lessons, activities, and innovative ideas that you can implement to better engage your students and empower your Activities Director.

In his first TEEN TRUTH blog, Stephen discusses the nature of this 3.5 year trend and offers three tangible solutions that you can use right now to improve your activities program. Click here to read his insightful words.

I am honored to have Stephen as part of our team, and it’s just one more way that TEEN TRUTH is working to help you build a strong school culture.