Social Media Surges:
Superintendent interacts on Twitter
March 24, 2015
Featuers, The Hoofbeat
Featuers, The Hoofbeat
As the education system started moving faster, everything turned digital and social media became the crux for news about things like snow days, school events, and student-teacher interaction. Millard Superintendent, Jim Sutfin, actively recognizes the significance of social media in today’s generation. Now more than ever, online interaction is the key to staying connected.
“I think it’s extremely important to stay connected with students. As staff members, teachers, and admin, what we do is work in the kid business. Every decision and opportunity of interaction is about building a connection with the kids,” Sutfin said.
As more students and faculty gain access to social media, they become a part of the instantaneous communication that comes with it. Sutfin has taken a unique approach to connect with Millard students and faculty in a progressive setting.
“The superintendent does a very good job interacting with students, especially on Twitter. He not only tweets at students, being funny and cracking jokes, but he also supports them in extra curriculum activities and academics,” senior Catherine Khorram said.
Online connection functions as an outlet to rapidly spread news about student achievement, sports and activities, and school-related events among students and faculty.
“I think the interaction that can occur can be over a variety of topics. For example, I got a tweet from the Millard West AP Government class about students debating Obama’s Congressional Constitutional powers in regards to the ISIS threat. It’s a great way to share with other schools how our students and faculty are innovating,” Sutfin said.
Information about Millard events rapidly permeates onto local Twitter newsfeeds, especially on evenings before potential snow or cold days.
“The roasts of students asking Dr. Sutfin for snow days makes kids pray for more snow, not to cancel school, but to put ice on the burn they just received,” senior Brent McKnight said.
During outbursts of rumors about possible snow days, it’s common to see students tweeting at Sutfin, using creative schemes to convince him to call off school.
“I included ‘#makethecall2k15’ in the first tweet I tweeted at him to try to get him to call off school. Then random people started doing it too, and then it started trending,” Khorram said
The most popular trend in the Millard district during the winter was a series of images initiated by Millard students of Sutfin’s face plastered on different characters.
“Student Photoshopped Dr. Sutfin’s face onto different pictures and tweeted them with clever captions. Those got really popular since they were really funny and my favorite [tweets] to look at,” Khorram said.
From Beyonce to Superman, students edited Sutfin’s face on everything they could think of. The most popular Sutfin-themed tweet was a video of Disney Ice Queen, Elsa from the animated film Frozen, who was singing about snow with Sutfin’s face pasted on her.
“I really liked the Batman Photoshop. But the amount of creativity that went into the video was pretty remarkable,” Sutfin said.
Sutfin’s responses to these types of tweets are often equally as clever and witty, getting multiple ‘retweets’ and ‘favorites’ on Twitter.
“On every potential cold day, the temperature rises from Dr. Sutfin’s fire tweets. His presence on Twitter shows that, contrary to popular belief, teachers and administration do actually have lives,” McKnight said.
Due to Sutfin’s commitment to contact on social media, students feel more engaged and connected to the district, and thus, more connected to him.
“I didn’t even know who the superintendent was before students started chatting with him on Twitter. I definitely see him as a ‘cool’ superintendent, that does a great job of interacting with students and faculty,” Khorram said.
Along with familiarizing students with the Millard superintendent, Twitter has served as an entertaining venue to bringing Millard students and staff together.
“Personally, I find this whole Twitter thing to be very fun. I’ve definitely had my share of hours tweeting with students. If I can help build spirit or bring the Millard community together in any way, I’m all about it,” Sutfin said.
Sutfin’s presence on social media has created an iconic image of the Millard Superintendent as someone who is able to engage with students in their own forum.
“As educators, we’re in the kid business. The world that you [students] live in is very different than the world we live in, and I’ve been honored to be part of the conversation,” Sutfin said.
“I think it’s extremely important to stay connected with students. As staff members, teachers, and admin, what we do is work in the kid business. Every decision and opportunity of interaction is about building a connection with the kids,” Sutfin said.
As more students and faculty gain access to social media, they become a part of the instantaneous communication that comes with it. Sutfin has taken a unique approach to connect with Millard students and faculty in a progressive setting.
“The superintendent does a very good job interacting with students, especially on Twitter. He not only tweets at students, being funny and cracking jokes, but he also supports them in extra curriculum activities and academics,” senior Catherine Khorram said.
Online connection functions as an outlet to rapidly spread news about student achievement, sports and activities, and school-related events among students and faculty.
“I think the interaction that can occur can be over a variety of topics. For example, I got a tweet from the Millard West AP Government class about students debating Obama’s Congressional Constitutional powers in regards to the ISIS threat. It’s a great way to share with other schools how our students and faculty are innovating,” Sutfin said.
Information about Millard events rapidly permeates onto local Twitter newsfeeds, especially on evenings before potential snow or cold days.
“The roasts of students asking Dr. Sutfin for snow days makes kids pray for more snow, not to cancel school, but to put ice on the burn they just received,” senior Brent McKnight said.
During outbursts of rumors about possible snow days, it’s common to see students tweeting at Sutfin, using creative schemes to convince him to call off school.
“I included ‘#makethecall2k15’ in the first tweet I tweeted at him to try to get him to call off school. Then random people started doing it too, and then it started trending,” Khorram said
The most popular trend in the Millard district during the winter was a series of images initiated by Millard students of Sutfin’s face plastered on different characters.
“Student Photoshopped Dr. Sutfin’s face onto different pictures and tweeted them with clever captions. Those got really popular since they were really funny and my favorite [tweets] to look at,” Khorram said.
From Beyonce to Superman, students edited Sutfin’s face on everything they could think of. The most popular Sutfin-themed tweet was a video of Disney Ice Queen, Elsa from the animated film Frozen, who was singing about snow with Sutfin’s face pasted on her.
“I really liked the Batman Photoshop. But the amount of creativity that went into the video was pretty remarkable,” Sutfin said.
Sutfin’s responses to these types of tweets are often equally as clever and witty, getting multiple ‘retweets’ and ‘favorites’ on Twitter.
“On every potential cold day, the temperature rises from Dr. Sutfin’s fire tweets. His presence on Twitter shows that, contrary to popular belief, teachers and administration do actually have lives,” McKnight said.
Due to Sutfin’s commitment to contact on social media, students feel more engaged and connected to the district, and thus, more connected to him.
“I didn’t even know who the superintendent was before students started chatting with him on Twitter. I definitely see him as a ‘cool’ superintendent, that does a great job of interacting with students and faculty,” Khorram said.
Along with familiarizing students with the Millard superintendent, Twitter has served as an entertaining venue to bringing Millard students and staff together.
“Personally, I find this whole Twitter thing to be very fun. I’ve definitely had my share of hours tweeting with students. If I can help build spirit or bring the Millard community together in any way, I’m all about it,” Sutfin said.
Sutfin’s presence on social media has created an iconic image of the Millard Superintendent as someone who is able to engage with students in their own forum.
“As educators, we’re in the kid business. The world that you [students] live in is very different than the world we live in, and I’ve been honored to be part of the conversation,” Sutfin said.