What Are Ya’ll Selling?

Usually, I would be with my wife getting our groceries for the week, but she had a few more things to get for Christmas and needed to go by herself on this mid-December morning. Since I was up already, I decided on a quick trip out to put the bow on the package as far as my holiday shopping.

My first stop was the McDonald’s drive through (I just can’t spell it “drive-thru,” I just can’t) for a bacon egg and cheese bagel. Now, those of you who know me know that I pass out buttons from Dinwiddie Middle School (#DMSGens) like a politician running for office. As I came to the payment window, I gave one to the lady who ran my debit card and to the guy behind her who had just spent his morning helping unload “the truck.”

He looked at the button and asked, “What are ya’ll selling?” I explained that I wasn’t selling anything, but that was a logo button from the middle school just up the road. He smiled and thanked me as he pinned the button on his coat.

I got my order and headed out on Route 1, intent on (what I hoped was) my last shopping trip before December 25th. As I enjoyed my bagel in the parking lot of the Walgreens (I had some photos to pick up to give as gifts) I thought back to his question. What are we selling at the middle school, or in education in general? What would have been an answer to his question? The future? The leaders of tomorrow? Relationships? A positive experience? Success? What would have been a good answer?

Here’s the thing - they’re all good answers.

In education, we are always looking forward. We are always building the relationships that will lead to success. We are always looking to build a positive experience for our students. We are always looking to create a place that’s better than it was yesterday.

So, what do we sell? We sell an experience that our families can get behind as a chance for their children to learn and grow. We sell decision-making that will help make our students better able to handle the choices that will come their way throughout their lives. We sell an experience, an opportunity, and a promise; a promise to our families that ”your children will be better for their time with us.”

Like all things that are sold, what we sell comes with a promise that the product will meet the expectations of consumers (and we are constantly monitoring our own performance to make good on that promise).

How would I answer that question now? I’d invite him to check us out online and to even come visit us at DMS so he can help us tell our story, a story in which our students are the ones who benefit from our product, which is an outstanding school experience.

Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope your holiday season is one full of family, friends, rejuvenation, and joy!