At a recent outdoor rally we had our cheerleaders make a Run through Banner that is traditionally reserved for Friday night Football games. Only instead of the Football Team running through it, we had all of our 692 Renaissance Card Holders run through a special made Renaissance Banner to begin our Fall Rally! Each cardholder either had on their new Renaissance shirt, their sport jersey, or the club t-shirt. Regardless of what they wore, you had to be a new card holder to run through! Each student had a balloon to represent their level of achievement, Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze to release when the run through was complete! This cost nothing except the cost of the balloons and helium and the students loved it!

The second thing we did at our rally was to have every member of our staff on the football field to form the "Tunnel of Wisdom" for the new staff to come through as their name was called over the PA. The ‘veteran" staff was called to the tunnel by the number of years they had worked at our school, with those there the longest at the beginning of the "tunnel". We had some "bricks" (cardboard kind) to give the new staff as they made their way down the tunnel. On the bricks each veteran staff person had written their name and their best advice for success. As the new staff made their way down the tunnel we filled up their bags with the Bricks of Wisdom!

Another idea was the Freeze-Off Contest. We had a cookout for our staff and their family before the rally and right after school. Each department was asked to bring their most favorite home made ice cream in a freezer to be judged as the best. At the judging, departments were not allowed to list the name of their department, only the flavor of their ice cream. Everyone responded great and we had dessert for our cookout! A large piñata of an ice-cream cone was the "trophy"! This built some really good memories and camaraderie among our staff.

We continue to use our "I Inspire" Awards with great success. We have perpetual trophies that are passed from staff person to staff person each rally. Students who earn Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze Discount Cards are given the opportunity to write a message about the staffulty who inspires them the most to succeed in school. Votes are tallied by level and announced at the rally! Trophies are given for each level. The messages are presented to not only the winners but to every person who received a nomination. Staffulty talk about this event a lot and really appreciate the comments that are hand written about them by the students.