Soon, Maury County, Tennessee residents and visitors will see bright, familiar faces across the community and social media – all with one thing in common: advocating to be a good statistic toward Maury County’s growing pro-education culture.
Part of a new public service campaign launched today, the “Be A Good Stat” – or #BeAGoodStat in social media – campaign utilizes faces and personalities local to Maury County to share how everyone can support education by being part of a good statistic.
The campaign is part of the Grow Maury Initiative, a partnership between the Maury County Chamber and Economic Alliance and Maury County Public Schools (MCPS), aimed at making educational achievement a top community priority for workforce development, economic competitiveness and citizen quality-of-life.
The Be A Good Stat campaign is being launched in start-up to a new academic year, as the unprecedented Grow Maury Initiative enters its third consecutive year.
The Grow Maury Initiative, launched in 2015, seeks to cultivate the community’s future by urging citizens from all walks of life to embrace education as a powerful tool for workforce readiness and personal economic success.
Over the last two years, the award-winning campaign has implemented a strategic communications plan to promote educational achievements and to energize the community.
Working in partnership with MCPS to advance positive awareness of MCPS, the initiative worked to help facilitate parental involvement, reduce absenteeism rates and to encourage students to capitalize on Tennessee Promise and other higher education scholarship programs.
Met with tremendous success, the initiative has enabled Maury County to break attendance records, achieve a higher-than-projected number of Tennessee Promise applicants, hit the highest college-going rate percentage in recorded history for the county, achieve an unprecedented increase in ACT scores, exceed the county’s quota of tnAchieves mentors and, as shown in a survey conducted by Bryant Research in 2016, show measurable improvements inperceptions among educators.
Maury County’s strides in education were praised by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam during his visit to Columbia earlier this year.
Starting July 31, the Be A Good Stat campaign will be executed throughout the last half of 2017 and first part of 2018. Billboards will go up across Columbia, posters will be made and graphics will be shared across social media.
Maury Alliance President Wil Evans urges the community to share the graphics with the hashtag #BeAGoodStat and to tell their own stories in social media about what they, their friends, family members, employers and colleagues are going to help Maury County achieve stronger education statistics – which helps Maury County to be more competitive for high-paying jobs and other economic opportunities.
“You can help make the ‘Be A Good Stat’ campaign a success,” said Evans. “We ask for your help sharing the graphics with the #BeAGoodStat and #GrowMaury hashtags on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media where you can personally advocate for our school system.”
The first graphic to be launched, emblazoned with “Her commitment deserves to be met at least half-way,” communicates actively supporting educators and MCPS’s culture of achievement. This past year, MCPS received a 12 percent increase in positive sentiment among its educators—as the district works hard to foster progress in service to students.
“We look forward to seeing what the new school year brings as we Grow Maury through good—and progressively better—statistics,” said Maury County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Chris Marczak. “Be A Good Stat and the Grow Maury Initiative will drive economic development and better futures for our county’s children.”