Edutainment and Convocation

If the expectation is for our students to behave, learn, and live differently, then we have to make sure that they feel part of something different.

At PJ Hill School in Trenton, New Jersey and Barringer Science,Technology, Engineering, Art & Mathematics (STEAM) Academy in Newark, New Jersey, we started every day with a ritual that we called edutainment/convocation. At this all-school assembly, we came together as a family to recognize students who have achieved, encourage those who have faltered and help them all to focus on the tasks that lay ahead in the coming school day.

The edutainment/convocation reinforces the sense that the lives of our faculty, staff, and students are interconnected and that we are collectively responsible for the fate of each individual among us. Without developing strong, positive, trusting relationships between students and adults, effective and life-altering education is not possible.

The edutainment/convocation reinforces and allows us to build a culture that provides students with the tools that can assist them to succeed in their choice of college and/or career. We, as educators, are critical in this process as is a compass to hiker on their journey.

Thank you for all that you are doing to educate our young people. As the ancient ones in Nigeria said "No one really knows what's at the bottom of the ocean." Please remain steadfast in educating our youth.