At a private school, a 1-day chance to skip the school uniform generates $8,000
04/19/2010
Never underestimate the power of a uniform.
At All Saints Episcopal School in Tyler, Texas, uniforms are a daily fact of life. Starting in the Lower School, the students must adhere to a prescribed dress code. For the girls, that means plaid jumpers and blouses; for the boys, the code requires polo shirts with an All Saints logo and khaki shorts.
The drive among the 400 students to wear something else to school is surprisingly high. In a Box Tops collection contest among the grade levels, the winning grade’s grand prize was the chance to dress casually for a single day (capped by pizza for lunch). The result: more than $8,000 in Box Tops earnings.
One more source of power tapped into by All Saints: moms. More specifically, moms who talk to one another. Meredith S. had been collecting Box Tops directly from students as both a school administrative assistant and Coordinator. She realized that the school’s mothers weren’t aware of how valuable Box Tops can be. “It’s free money for our school to buy the things we need,” Meredith explained to them.
As the moms talked to each other about Box Tops, the collections shot up from only about $400 a few years ago. Among the equipment the school needed was a playscape for its Lower School students. When enough Box Tops had been collected, the playscape was bought, installed and enjoyed.
Just as uniforms are a visual reminder of a code of conduct, the playscape became a visual reminder–for the moms–of the power of Box Tops. “Once they saw that playscape standing, they were committed to supporting the program,” Meredith says.