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Marketing committee plans aim to instill Bulldog pride inside and outside buildings

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Wraps were recently installed at the entrances to the MFL MarMac Monona Center. The district’s marketing committee now hopes to transition the project to spaces within the building, in an effort to instill more Bulldog pride in students, staff and visitors. (Photo by Audrey Posten)

By Audrey Posten, Times-Register

 

MFL MarMac’s marketing committee is transitioning its latest project—wraps on the Monona building entrances—to spaces within the school.

 

“We worked with Varsity Group and they did our window wraps, which you see when you walk in. We also have some on the doors to help direct people,” said Cheri Moser, who, along with fellow marketing committee members Melissa Haberichter and Brandi Crozier, shared updates at the Nov. 8 school board meeting. “Our students and staff have given really positive feedback, and we even heard comments that it made them feel proud of our school. As a team, we want that Bulldog pride among our current students, staff, community and anyone who comes back here.”

 

“Now, we’re trying to think what other ways we can show that pride in a simple way inside the building,” she added.

 

Those plans include a wrap on the large, rounded wall outside the high school auditorium, highlighting the district’s fine arts. The trophy cases next to the high school gym entrance and in the lobby will also be re-vamped.

 

The trophy cases, especially, are in areas students, staff and community members frequently use and see, said Moser.

 

“But with our goal being Bulldog pride, we think, right now, it has the opposite effect. Why is this not hitting the mark for us?” she asked. 

 

The committee members said there is lack of equity in content and space.

 

“In the whole area, there’s very little academics and fine arts,” said Moser.

 

“There are some sports that are not even there, for some reason,” Haberichter added. “And we have a student who went to Luther to play college football, and that’s fine, but we’ve had other kids play college sports and they’re not up there.”

 

“And every space is so different that we don’t feel like it’s being utilized like it should,” Moser explained. “We have coaches who do an amazing job, they keep up their little section and update it with pictures, trophies, all the awards. Then we have some who don’t. And that’s not their fault—maybe they’ve been coaching the sport for one year or don’t have the time.”

 

Haberichter called the current layout hodge-podge. Awards, trophies and photos are layered on top of each other, making some difficult to see. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what makes the cut into the case.

 

“We have like the 1985 second place trophy at Valley Invitational. That’s supposed to be our best and brightest achievements, but it’s not really even kept up to that,” she shared.

 

The committee’s solution is to remove all the memorabilia from the case in the lobby and wrap the glass with Bulldog pride insignias. The highest achievements in all the areas of academics, fine arts and sports will move to the smaller case near the gym entrance.

 

“We update it with our highest achieving trophies, information, academics, and put it in one space. The space would be right when you walk in, and we’ve been talking about doing a floor to ceiling showcase,” Moser said.

 

Upon consultation with coaches and advisors, the remaining trophies would be distributed to other spaces around the building.

 

“A lot of other schools, they put the wrestling stuff in the wrestling room, they put the music stuff in the music room. We’re open to suggestions,” said Moser.

 

“It’s important to know we’re not going to be disposing of anything,” Crozier added.

 

Student artwork is often displayed in one section of the lobby case, and the committee said it will be displayed elsewhere too—and more prominently.

 

“We have a plan,” Haberichter assured.

 

The trophies, no matter where they are eventually displayed, won’t be forgotten about either. The marketing team proposed installing a Touch Pro, a large digital touch screen that will contain a school calendar and current updates along with digitized historical information, photos and videos about athletics, academics, fine arts—anything MFL MarMac wants to archive.

 

“You can have a valedictorian page, take pictures of all the trophies and have them there. You can digitize all the yearbooks—we can do it for both schools, MFL and MarMac, and then when we joined,” Moser said. “It’s really cool how much stuff you can put into this thing. It gives us a space to highlight our achievements for everything.”

 

The Touch Pro will sit in the middle of the wrap, in the lobby. People will be able to touch through tabs, and even search for specific content. The information will also be available on the school website, accessible from anywhere.

 

“It’s very searchable. You can type in someone’s name and a page on them pops up, everything they’ve done. It’s really well organized and you can also search by team, by state champion,” Moser shared.

 

According to the committee, 73 Iowa schools, including some in the area, already have a Touch Pro system. The company will help input the information, but the team said a bulk of the work could be completed through an Eagle Scout project. 

 

“The Eagle Scout project is, partly, taking a photo of all those trophies, and it will be out there. You will see them this way. Because no one is seeing them when they are double decker in those shelves,” Haberichter commented.

 

Continued updates will be necessary, but fairly easy to complete.

 

“At the end of each season, stuff could go up on the Touch Pro. It’s more automatic,” Haberichter said. “If you had a coach who wanted to do a quick highlight of their year, then it stays on there. Now our trophies are in one spot only. Here, it would be outside our school walls, it would be online forever. Somebody in California can look at everything we have.”

 

The group acknowledged the idea of moving to this digital format might be overwhelming or upsetting to some. 

 

“We understand the hesitation. That’s always the initial reaction,” said Haberichter. “Most schools are finding themselves in the same boat. That’s why so many are going to the Touch Pro. Basically, we need to develop some criteria. We want to keep honoring the highest achievements and then the most current achievements. Not a museum of trophies.”

 

“You’ve walked into schools where you’ve felt strength and pride,” she added. “We don’t want to have the opposite effect, where, jeez, you’re really reaching putting that 1989 trophy out there.”

 

“We’re really happy with the idea of a Touch Pro, having it right in our lobby to help with the changes. It needs to happen eventually and can be really good for our school,” Moser said. “What’s most important? It’s the kids and staff who are here right now, and they should feel pride. Maybe lots of awards from 30 years ago might not be giving them that.”

 

School board member Jonathon Moser was supportive of the idea. “This is a transition into a digital age. It’s not throwing the history away—it’s just reformatting it,” he stated.

 

The marketing committee said the auditorium wrap, and the wrap on the trophy case at the gym entrance, could happen sooner. The larger wrap in the lobby likely couldn’t happen until summer, however.

 

“The Eagle Scout project is due next August for the student who is willing to do this,” Haberichter said.

 

In the meantime, the committee is also working on a color palette and design plan for any future updates in the school buildings.

 

“Then we can transition nicely from space to space rather than it being like themed rooms as you move around the building,” said Crozier. “We’re really trying to make it look nice and gain control of our paint room. It creates issues when you’re touching up walls and have 45 greens and 27 blues and 18 tans. And it’s not just paint we’re looking at, but what are our flooring options, what are our lighting options and hardware options. Then it’s not just a mishmash, because that doesn’t showcase our building.”

 

“We’re not looking at doing anything, just a plan for when something gets replaced,” Haberichter noted. “It’s guidelines, tying in our color palette so it’s more cohesive.”

 


Strategic plan among other agenda items

In addition to the marketing updates, several other topics were discussed at MFL MarMac’s Nov. 8 school board meeting. 

 

Superintendent Dale Crozier hopes a new strategic plan can be developed in the near future, focusing on the next three years.

 

The demographical packet I’ve been working on has stuff about Clayton County, the size of our district, our enrollment history and where we’ve went with population. I also did a short summary of infrastructure changes. Then people get an idea,” he said. “In 2003, the goals were to continue to improve instruction, better MFL MarMac’s finances, create opportunities for limited English learners, create partnerships with other organizations, have a daycare center, have a dual credit program, job training, mentoring.”

 

“Some goals are ongoing, but we’ve definitely made some headway,” Crozier added.

 

He said the first strategic planning meeting would include this information, then a second would gather ideas. The group would discuss the ideas and work toward solutions in the third meeting.

 

Crozier has some ideas of his own.

 

“I think we need economic development, we need to become a partner with the towns more than we are,” he said. “I think our biggest problem going forward is not really the school as much as affordable housing and continued opportunities for daycare. People like our school, but there’s no place to live.”

 

According to Crozier, other important topics include marketing, future land access, a bus garage, re-doing the lunchroom and solar energy. 

 

Also discussed:

•The board approved the SBRC application request for increased enrollment in the amount of $65,829. 

•Crozier said the district’s ACT composite mean score was 20.5. “We’re always around average,” he noted.

•The board approved several staffing changes, including the hiring of James Trappe as a bus driver and the resignation of Mike Driscoll as seventh grade girls volleyball coach.

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