Mike Geddes, left, Ian Kidd and Christine Gronowski growl and beat their chests as part of their made-up cheer for their team during the Rincon Renaissance at Rincon High School. As an alternative to usual back-to-school teacher meetings, Rincon's student body set up a student-led obstacle course as a team-building activity Thursday to promote communication and involvement between students and staff.

Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

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At most events welcoming teachers back to work, there's air conditioning involved while a principal dishes out new mandates and wraps it all up with a pep talk.

But at Rincon High School on an early, muggy Thursday morning, students designed activities that had school staff clearing hurdles (slowly), jumping rope (poorly) and trying to keep hula hoops swirling somewhere near their (often ample) midsections.

They built bridges out of two-by-fours and played Pictionary. They performed team cheers.

To the casual observer, it might have looked a bit like students getting some back for all those years of math drills and spelling tests.

But it was the beginning of the school's use of a new improvement philosophy, known in educational circles as Jostens Renaissance, to craft a better environment by building stronger relationships and embracing the idea that teachers can learn from students.

The program also touts breaking down walls that might exist between those carrying gradebooks and those taking out the trash.

And it focuses on creating a culture that celebrates academics as much as it does athletics.

"I don't care if you're a bus driver or a cafeteria worker, we all teach kids and we are all role models for kids," said new Principal Kimberly Babeu, a former Arizona Teacher of the Year who served most recently as an assistant principal at the school.

"And what we want to do is try to make sure that all kids have a relationship with at least one significant adult at school," Babeu added. "Research shows they'll stay in school, come to school more and be more engaged in their classes if they have that connection."

A team of students designing other activities for the year put up a thank-you board where students can post notes expressing gratitude.

Football players will give their jerseys to their favorite teachers to wear to a game, and then introduce the teachers at halftime.

Students will be recognized for making improvements in grades or attendance.

T-shirts, proclaiming one to be a "mathlete," for example, will help promote an academic culture.

And they're planning a ceremony at which freshmen will commit to graduating.

"A lot of times, teachers just want you to come to class, be quiet, do your work and go home," said Adam Ruffin, 17, an incoming senior who helped organize the morning events. "They really don't get to know us, and we're trying to show them that having a relationship with them is important to us."

Incoming junior Chance Mora, 17, pointed to some school staffers who made a difference for him. He had an English teacher last year who let students eat lunch in his class every day. "He was someone we could talk to anytime," Mora said.

He has also struck up a friendship with a janitor, a former Chicago fireman, who has imparted life lessons. Just Wednesday, he said, the man advised him that passion — not coin — should drive his future career.

"Every student here should have someone they can turn to, and we want to make sure kids want to come to school," Mora said.

In the end, it wasn't really about whether the leopard team had the best cheer.

And it wasn't about whether Pictionary team members called out "graduated cylinders" and "cooling towers" when drama teacher Maryann Green was drawing "test tubes."

It was about connecting.

Jeff Chandler, a 16-year-old junior, said relationships are hard to build in a school when "kids are being kids and teachers are being teachers."

Most of his teachers, he said, have been committed to their work. A few weren't. "It's not fun having a teacher who doesn't give a damn about you," he said. "If you're able to get teachers and students together, that's less likely to happen."