Building Community One Recognition at a Time: Aquarian Charter School's House System
Results at a Glance
About Aquarian Charter School
Aquarian Charter School serves K-5 students in the Anchorage School District with a commitment to creating an engaging, connected learning environment where every child belongs. Under the leadership of Principal Brittany Nerland, the school implemented the Aquarian House System—modeled after the Ron Clark Academy’s celebrated approach—to build stronger connections among students, staff, and families.
The House System recognizes students for kindness, academic effort, collaboration, and positive behavior by awarding points to their house teams. The goal is simple but powerful: help every student feel they’re not just attending school, but truly part of a community working together. It’s about relationships, celebration, and belonging—the fundamental building blocks of an engaged learning community.
The Challenge
Aquarian Charter School had built a strong foundation of community and family engagement. With the introduction of their House System the school saw an opportunity to deepen those connections and take student engagement to the next level.
The vision was clear: make recognition immediate, visible, and celebratory so every student could see their contributions matter in real time. The House System provided an excellent framework for celebrating kindness, academic effort, collaboration, and positive behavior—but maximizing its impact meant solving some practical questions. How could teachers easily recognize positive behavior without disrupting their workflow? How could students and families experience the energy and enthusiasm throughout the school day, not just during special assemblies?
The school sought a technology solution that would amplify the excellent work already happening—one that was reliable, easy to maintain, and genuinely enhanced the community-building mission rather than creating another complex system to manage. Previous ad-hoc attempts had proven frustrating: they tied up expensive teacher devices (laptops or iPads) just to drive a single display, required constant updates and reboots, and frequently froze or crashed. These technical hiccups resulted in delayed recognition that undermined the immediacy and energy the House System was meant to create.
More critically, troubleshooting these ad-hoc systems consumed valuable teacher time that should be focused on students. Teachers are busy professionals with countless responsibilities beyond their core mission of educating children. Every minute spent rebooting a frozen display or troubleshooting connection issues is a minute lost from classroom instruction—contact hours that can never be recovered. Troubleshooting digital signage shouldn’t be added to teachers’ already extensive list of “extra” responsibilities. Finding a purpose-built solution that simply worked as intended—freeing teacher devices, eliminating technical headaches, and delivering consistent, real-time updates—was essential to realizing the program’s full potential.
Why This Matters
Student engagement is one of the most persistent challenges in education. Research consistently shows that students who feel connected to their school community demonstrate better academic outcomes, improved behavior, and stronger social-emotional development.
Recognition systems work—but only when they’re timely, visible, and authentic. Traditional approaches like stickers, certificates, and manual point tracking have their place in individual classroom management and one-on-one recognition. However, house systems add something different to the toolkit: they amplify recognition by making it visible to the entire school community in real time. When a student’s positive contribution is celebrated not just by their teacher but witnessed by peers across all grade levels, it creates a shared sense of accomplishment that strengthens community bonds and inspires others to contribute.
For schools implementing house systems or other positive behavior programs, the gap between vision and execution often comes down to practical technology challenges. How do you make recognition immediate without disrupting instruction? How do you celebrate achievements visibly without adding administrative burden? These are common pain points that prevent many schools from fully realizing the potential of their engagement initiatives.
Our Approach
Vicinity partnered with Aquarian to implement a digital signage system that would make house points visible, immediate, and engaging. Working with OptiSigns digital signage software and the Ron Clark Academy’s house points dashboard, Vicinity provided hardware controllers, configuration, and integration support to bring three large-format displays to life in school hallways.
The approach prioritized simplicity and reliability—two qualities that had been missing from previous technology attempts. Rather than creating a complex custom system, Vicinity selected proven components and integrated them thoughtfully to match the school’s specific workflow and physical environment.
The Solution
Vicinity implemented a digital signage system that transformed the House System from concept to visible reality. Three large-format displays were strategically positioned in school hallways where students naturally congregate during passing periods. Each display connects to an OptiSigns hardware controller configured to interface with the Ron Clark Academy’s house points dashboard software.
The system works elegantly: teachers and staff award house points from their laptops or mobile devices as they see students demonstrating positive behaviors. Points update instantly on the digital displays positioned where students see them during passing periods. Each recognition shows the student’s name and avatar—a short video clip of the student themselves—creating a vibrant, personal celebration that the whole school can share.
When a kindergartener helps a classmate, when a third-grader shows perseverance on a challenging problem, when a fifth-grader demonstrates leadership—their housemates see it immediately. The screens function as a school-wide leaderboard, but more importantly, as a continuous celebration of the community students are building together.
The solution was designed to be reliable and easy to maintain, addressing the frustrations Aquarian had experienced with previous technology attempts. The hardware controllers require no daily intervention—they simply work. As the school has been able to secure additional funding through donations, the system has expanded seamlessly to accommodate more displays.
Real-Time Recognition Display
House points update instantly on hallway displays as teachers award them, creating immediate positive reinforcement visible to the entire school community
Easy-to-Use Mobile Interface
Teachers and staff award points from any device without workflow disruption, making recognition seamless and frequent
Student Avatar Celebrations
Each recognition displays the student's personalized avatar video, creating authentic, joyful moments that students and peers can share
Reliable, Low-Maintenance System
OptiSigns controllers provide set-it-and-forget-it reliability, eliminating the technical frustrations of previous attempts
Scalable Architecture
System designed to grow with school resources, easily adding displays as funding becomes available through donations or grants
Results & Outcomes
The response from the Aquarian community has been overwhelmingly positive. Students flock to the displays during passing periods, eager to celebrate their housemates’ achievements. Staff can recognize positive behavior in the moment without workflow disruption. Parents hear about house points and peer achievements at home, creating new conversations about school life.
Large-format screens bringing house points to life throughout the school
Instant visibility of achievements as they happen, creating immediate positive reinforcement
Entire school community participating in celebrating each other's success
Teachers award points from laptops or mobile devices without workflow disruption
Seamlessly grows with school resources and needs as additional funding becomes available
Visible celebration of positive behavior building genuine community connections
“The immediate visibility of house points has transformed how our students engage with each other’s success,” says Principal Brittany Nerland. “When a kindergartener sees their name and avatar on the screen for showing kindness, and their classmates cheer—that’s the kind of positive reinforcement that builds real community. The digital signage made something we believed in actually work the way we envisioned.”
The technology has helped turn an abstract concept into something tangible that students, staff, and families can rally around. The House System at Aquarian isn’t just a program—it’s become part of the school’s culture, visible in hallways and carried into homes through student excitement and parent engagement.
Technologies & Products
The immediate visibility of house points has transformed how our students engage with each other's success. When a kindergartener sees their name and avatar on the screen for showing kindness, and their classmates cheer—that's the kind of positive reinforcement that builds real community. The digital signage made something we believed in actually work the way we envisioned.
Transform Your School's Student Engagement
Vicinity helps schools implement practical technology solutions that build stronger communities. Let's discuss how digital signage can support your student recognition and engagement initiatives.