Creating Belonging: How To Create Defining Moments in Public Education

As superintendents, our calendars are packed with the heavy bureaucracy of school leadership: budget items, policy updates, facility repairs, and navigating local and federal political dynamics. But if we step back from the operational grind, a deeper truth emerges about what we actually do and how we can potentially show up.

But beyond managing the system, there is another responsibility that deserves our attention:

We are the architects of moments, shaping the scholar experience. 

As architects of moments, we, as leaders, need to be intentional about designing meaningful experiences that create belonging, inspire learning, build relationships, and shape lasting memories. 

Recently, our leadership team in Ypsilanti Community Schools has begun reading The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath. The core idea of this book is that our lives are defined by a series of meaningful, standout experiences and these moments define our purpose, hope, and intention. 

If we want to strengthen belonging and build public trust, we must become more intentional about the experiences people have with our schools.

Every touchpoint matters.

Leveraging the Four Elements of Defining Moments

To earn and maintain public trust, policy work and press releases aren't enough. We have to lean into what Chip and Dan Heath call the four elements of defining moments: Elevation, Insight, Pride, and Connection.

1. Elevation: Rising Above the Ordinary

Elevation means creating a moment that steps out of the daily routine and becomes something extraordinary.

At YCS, one of our middle school principals, Mr. Charles Davis Jr., modeled this perfectly. At the start of the school year, he put out a call to our community: he wanted over 100 community leaders to line up outside the building by 7:30 AM to “fist-bump” and cheer on scholars as they walked in. The community delivered. Imagine being a middle schooler walking into school through a wall of community members cheering just for you? That wasn't just a Tuesday drop-off—that was an elevated moment that said, Your community believes in you. Your community has great hopes for you. Your community is vested in your success.

2. Insight: "Tripping Over the Truth"

Moments can completely rewrite what people think is possible.

In public education, the dominant narrative often centers on friction between administration and unions. We chose a different path. We built a deeply collaborative partnership with our local union—so much so that leaders like Michigan Education Association officials and newly elected National Education Association President Princess Moss visited our YCS Puentes Multilingual School to see it in action. By choosing radical collaboration, our community tripped over a powerful truth: when adults align around scholars, traditional barriers disappear. 

3. Pride: Courage in Action

The Heath brothers talk about pride as moments that capture us at our best—and those usually require courage.

For school leaders today, courage is a daily requirement. It takes courage to open our doors every morning in the face of political noise, heightened scrutiny, and social media misinformation. When we stand firm in our values and publicly celebrate the real, authentic brilliance of our scholars and staff, we create moments of genuine pride across our districts.

Moments of pride and courage in action are important to us at YCS. These two values help us move the work from what we say we value to what people actually experience in our schools.

The most important question for us has become: “What moments will I create today?

4. Connection: Shared Experience

Defining moments are social by nature. They bring us together. At YCS, we are intentional about creating shared experiences that bring scholars, educators, families, and the community together. We create collective experiences where people actually practice being responsible together.

The dates on our calendars don’t just mark out tradition; they are opportunities for each of us to build relationships and authentic connections, share our story, and celebrate the incredible experiences we have with one another as a community. The picture above shows our scholars representing Michigan as Student Senators for AI policy in Boston last spring.

Leading Through the Moments That Matter

We know the landscape right now isn't easy for leaders. The scrutiny for us is real, and the challenges are truly overwhelming. In spite of this, every single day, our scholars walk into our school every day and have the opportunity to experience extraordinary moments because of educators like you who truly care about their future. We recognize that leadership is not what we do over the course of a year. It is how we show up in moments that matter most. 

As educational leaders, let’s take advantage of these opportunities. Let us use every morning greeting, every community event, and every appointment on our busy calendars to build trust and to tell the real story of public education. Keep doing the amazing work!

Every day, we are creating moments that shape how our scholars see themselves, how our educators see their work, how our families and communities see our schools. So let’s lead the moments that matter.

Heath, C. & Heath, D. (2017). The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact. Simon & Schuster.