State High introduced a new initiative this year called Pride Coins, which are based on the military’s Challenge Coins. The military’s Challenge Coins are medallions given to recognize a member’s honor, achievement and camaraderie. State High’s principal, Laura Tobias, saw this idea and created the Pride Coins, which recognize students for representing SC positively, respecting it, owning it, and advocating for it. The school has 3,000 pride coins, and four were initially given to each staff member to reward students.
State High has multiple staff member veterans who helped this new initiative come together: 11th grade learning support teacher, Chris Taylor, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 3 years (1998-2001) and the Army National Guard for 20 years (2001-2023); English teacher, Chris Sakmar, who served in the Army for 6 years (2013-2019); survivor science teacher John Donoughe, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 4 years (1983-1987) and the Pennsylvania National guard for 4 years (1987-1991); and Counseling Coordinator Beth Burnham who served in the Army Reserves for 8 years (1994-2002).
Tobias wanted to create these coins as a way to tell students that they matter. She believes that every student deserves to feel worthy, even if they just do the little things. She explained that these coins are really all about what our school community does for each other and how people deserve to be recognized for it.
“Sometimes it’s the little things that matter most, and sometimes people don’t even recognize it….It could be somebody holding the door open for someone, it could be if someone was eating alone at lunch, someone else going up and sitting with them,” Tobias said.”’What do we do as our high school community to take care of one another?’ And I think for me, it was a simple, yet easy artifact that says you are special, you matter here, and we recognize all the good that you do,” said Tobias.
Tobias finds it important to tell people that they are doing a good job and are valuable. She explained how other schools, even in the State College Area School District, have all sorts of little awards. Tobias recognizes that things like paper tickets probably don’t hold as much value to high school students as they do to elementary and middle school students, so she wanted to find something more exciting.
“But they love our celebrations, right? So, when we have Fall Fest and Summer Fest, and we have our mental health summit days, they [the students] love the whole school celebration…So I kept trying to think of something that could be really special, something that nobody else has, something that is significant,” Tobias said.
Tobias learned from State High’s Building Secretary, Holly Gross, and her husband, who is in the military, that they give out challenge coins to those who have served. Tobias spent time talking to him and figured out that this could be what she wanted for State High. Turning these Challenge Coins into Pride Coins worked very well for rewarding good behavior.
“Then we had interviewed our own staff who are military veterans. People didn’t even know that they served our country, and they’re here working with kids. So I wanted to recognize that fact as well,” Tobias said.
11th Grade Learning Support teacher, Chris Taylor, is also a military veteran. Taylor earned challenge coins throughout his time in the military and said that they were nice to get every now and then to know that he was doing well and that his hard work and effort were being noticed. Taylor was approached by Tobias about making State High’s version of a challenge coin early in the process.
“I immediately just had thoughts of what it meant to me, and my experiences with it in the services. I got excited because I felt like introducing that into the school meant that everybody here was going to get to experience something I got to experience, because otherwise they may not, because not everybody joins the military. So just for that reason alone, I was ecstatic,” Taylor said.
Taylor shared how he hopes that students feel the same way he did when getting rewarded with these coins. He said that getting just a small little pick me up was nice, especially if it was just behind closed doors and not in front of everybody.
“It was usually attached to having integrity and just doing the right thing, no matter what. And getting rewarded for that reinforced that fact. ‘Okay, I’m gonna continue to do this because people are watching, and people do see it, and people do respect it.’ So I would just continue to advocate for those principles,” Taylor said.
Taylor explained that having integrity is a very important trait. Once this initiative takes off, he believes that our school will have an even better sense of community, pride, purpose, and belonging.
“I think once the students start receiving them and it feels a little more tangible and real, I think others will see that, and I think it’ll have a ripple effect, like throwing a stone into still water…You want people to wake up and students, staff, you want them to wake up in the morning and feel like they have a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging in the community,” Taylor saif.
While some of the Pride Coins have been handed out to staff members, the project is still in the making. Tobias shared how she hopes that once she gets more coins, students and staff can keep track of them and hand them out to each other.
“Give one to a teacher, or a para, or secretary, somebody that helps you out. A janitor that helped you if you spilled coffee that day,” Tobias said.
Tobias hopes that this initiative will grow into something extraordinary. There is only one coin right now, but she hopes to have more designs in the future, with different writing on them, even more similar to challenge coins. Tobias has been working with students in the school to help this idea come to life.
“I want students involved in that. I don’t need to design it, I want them to design it. So, designed by the students for the students…our WSCH crew with Nate Tranell and his team from IB Film, they actually want to film someone receiving a coin or interviewing them,” Tobias said.
IB Film heard Tobias and created a sort of movie trailer for the Pride Coins. Senior Nate Tranell helped direct this and was a part of creating the actual coins as well.
“I was approached for making the Pride Coin video about a month and a half before anyone in the school or the staff actually saw it. And I worked with Tobias and Ms. Evans…It was really fun working with them because they had a vision and the students in IB film and few students in journalism as well, we got to help them take that vision and make it reality,” Tranell said.
Tranell and all of IB film spent a lot of time and effort creating the coins and the initial video. They interviewed staff members who were in the military and got a feel for what they could do to make the Pride Coins feel fit for the school. Much like the still-developing initiative, their work isn’t over.
“There are going to be videos every month, and I’m helping organize student directors and creatives who are going to make those videos. And personally, I am exhilarated that I was even asked to do anything like this because I’ve never done something so great with leadership,” Tranell said.
Tranell also had a lot of gratitude for the IB film team and everything they have done by coming together and working on such a big project. Along with Tranell directing, Via Helling edited the video, Isabella Zeman did the music, and Nolan Brautigam, Morgan Leitzell, Benson Lin and Allison Foor did the camera work and lighting. Teachers Austin Van Allen and Samantha Corza served as advisors, and PBIS coordinator Jennifer Evans was also a crucial figure in making the project as well.
“They’re all so talented in what they do. And I think the school, this is the way for the school to see what kind of creativity lies within the students,” Tranell said.
Both Tobias and Tranell described this year as sort of a trial run, though they hope it will be super successful. Tranell explained how they have a clear idea for how they want this initiative to play out.
“I think if we approach it with humility and consider getting perspectives from schools all over, because that’s what this is, recognizing everybody, not just the people who are always getting recognized,” Tranell said.
As Tranell said, State High’s new Pride Coin initiative is designed to recognize all students and staff for the hard work they put in and to make sure they know they are noticed. Tobias hopes that over the years, the initiative will take off and make State High an even better school.
Editor’s note: Nate Tranell is a staff writer for the Lions’ Digest
