On Wednesday, much of San Benito High School could have been mistaken for a college campus, as the staff traded in professional attire for gear touting their university alma maters.
To get student interested in what happens beyond high school, San Benito’s staff have begun wearing college sweatshirts, T-shirts and other gear on Wednesdays.
“It’s kind of like a subliminal message to kids,” Principal Krystal Lomanto said. “It’s just the idea of getting the conversation going … promoting college and that idea that every student can attain it.”
The idea came from Activities Director Juan Robledo, who visited a San Diego high school and saw many of the teachers wearing shirts from their various colleges. Lomanto liked the idea and sent out a memo encouraging the staff to sport the names of their colleges. The idea was embraced by most of the high school’s teachers.
“It was an idea that everyone latched on to,” said Mike Schurig, who teaches business classes.
Schurig has started collecting shirts and gear from all the local colleges and switching up which ones he represents, depending on the week. This Wednesday, he dressed in a California State University, Monterey Bay shirt.
When senior Isaac Arballo noticed several of his teachers wearing their school shirts, it made him want to talk about their college experiences.
“I asked them what they majored in. It kind of motivated me a little bit to go to college,” said Arballo, 17.
Lomanto said the idea wasn’t broadcast to students. Instead, it was designed to pique student interest in college and even to encourage them to ask their teachers questions.
Senior Amanda Frey said she thought it was a “really cool thing” that teachers were getting creative in how they encourage higher education.
“I think it will have an impact seeing all the options,” she said.
Chuck Schallhorn, who teaches psychology and government at the high school, said he’s hoping the message will influence the students to think beyond their high school graduation.
He said he thinks it’s important that the school and the community realize the importance of higher education. He said he has gotten many questions from his students when he wears his college shirt.
On Wednesday, his shirt had Valparaiso emblazoned across the chest. He said students had asked where the Northern Indiana university is located and what it’s like. He said he hoped the shirts would also start a dialogue about college access.
He wants to make sure students realize the numerous funding options available.
“A lot of it goes to attitudes – they think it’s not affordable,” Schallhorn said.
In addition to wearing the college gear, available scholarships are announced every morning so that students see options for funding college.
Schallhorn was the first person in his family to go to college and he had to pay for it himself, he said. If he proudly dons his school name, he said, kids are more likely to ask him questions about how he paid for it, his major there and how he chose his school.
“Ultimately, it’s a way to change the culture of the school,” Schallhorn said.
