The district has had a motto for many years, though the district believed a change was needed. The motto before was “We learn not for school but for life.” The district believed that it did not properly show their goals for the community and their schools. Earlier this school year, the motto was changed to “Expect More.”

While the district was in a meeting seeing what they wanted to change for the better, a new superintendent came into play finding things to improve. Those in the council, including Chief of Staff Carissa Keister, decided it was time for a new brand for the Stillwater Area Schools District. They looked at what our district offers compared to others and found that Stillwater has more opportunities including clubs, classes, extracurriculars and more. So, more became a needed part of the slogan. They workshopped slogans, ending with the motto: “Expect More.”

“We have a lot of opportunities, more than other high schools do. There are more clubs and elective courses. So the idea of more resonated with us. We offer more,” Keister said.

She wanted everyone to think about where the district should go with their policies and the new motto was made to show just that. The council made the mantra to encapsulate the “essence” of their re-branding while still holding true to the Stillwater attitude. For next year, the district is pulling together to focus on literacy and diversity. This goes against how Stillwater tends to have a large spread of focus. They wish to bring up the lowered scores of literacy that the district had been experiencing since the lockdowns. 

This change was intended to alter students, teachers and community members’ views on what they should expect from the district. Many find the irony in this motto including junior Ainsley Smith. She thinks that this causes students not to create their opportunities, but to expect them to be made for themselves creating a problem where students may not want to work as hard.

Mottos are made to show what an organization or district as a whole is about or working towards. The Stillwater School District wanted to show that they were moving forward from the closures and chaos that had happened in the last four to five years, causing disruptions in learning and management.

School counselor Patricia Grgurovic said that to her knowledge, the new motto was “about expecting more from leadership, and then also expecting more from ourselves.”

Overall, the District found the change to be an important change in their attitude and focus on what will improve the District the most. This improvement is hoped to cause a ripple effect on students and community members to allow them to be more and expect more. This change brings more opportunities and better expectations of staff with the new motto, “Expect More”.