Educational consultant Ignite 2 Unite hosted an event with nearly 100 students to help build school spirit and culture by discussing the campus climate of Paly at the Peery Family Center on Monday, March 27.
The event, titled the 4A Workshop, is a six-hour training program that aims to equip and empower a school’s art, athletic, activity and academic student-leaders to lead a school’s student culture, according to the Ignite 2 Unite website.
Jason Jedamski, founder of Ignite 2 Unite, said the day-long workshop helps students to find ways to improve their schools.
“You take some student leaders from those four groups, and you bring them together to talk about their school and how to make it the best version of itself, Jedamski said.”
ASB advisor Steve Gallagher said Paly partnered with Ignite 2 Unite to encourage students to lead positive culture change for Paly.
“We’re gonna be working more on the culture itself and (asking) ‘How can we do that?’” Gallagher said. “‘How can students be more part of that leading that process?’”
Jedamski said creating a diverse atmosphere offers an opportunity for more conversations between groups of students that traditionally would not interact.
“When they first come in, we’ve got students from 4 kinds of different groups, Jedamski said. “The kid in band might have never talked to the kid in basketball, so (the program hopes) to get them to talk to each other and establish some commonality.”
Freshman Ryan Leung said he was optimistic over the program’s potential to enhance Paly’s community.
“I think it will help to increase the spirit of the school,” Leung said.
Gallagher credits Principal Brent Kline for bringing the program to Paly. However, Gallagher said he was uncertain whether the 4A Workshop would become a yearly occurrence.
“This is the first year, so I don’t know if it will be a yearly event,” Gallagher said. “I think we’ll have to take a look afterwards and see if the program comes back yearly.”
Despite the uncertainty of its future, Jedamski said he believes the program has the capacity to transform the atmosphere of Paly’s campus.
“The goal of it is to help kids recognize that if we all decide together to make our campus better, then our campus is going to thrive,” Jedamski said. “If you change what you do, you’re gonna change the feeling of the campus.”
