Challenge Coins for Educators

The phrase “these are challenging times” is starting to sound redundant these days; nevertheless, it’s more true now than ever, and it’s especially true for educators. Times are tough for teachers, and in a concerted effort to maintain our best educators, schools and districts are trying to find creative ways to show appreciation for their faculty and staff. This is why some teachers have started to receive custom challenge coins!

Custom challenge coins are steeped in tradition and serve as a unique way to show appreciation for an act of service. The history of challenge coins can be traced back all the way to ancient times, but it was popularized in modern times within our armed forces. Challenge coins are forged in commemoration and gifted in recognition, which is why many civilian organizations have adopted the tradition of presenting challenge coins to their employees, and no group has served their local communities more than educators!

Challenge Coins as a Symbol, Not a Reward

We need to take a moment here to stress the obvious - challenge coins, in this instance, should be additional gifts for teachers. A challenge coin presented in place of monetary bonuses, extra vacation days, free catered lunches, and other appropriate offerings for educators could be considered disrespectful and would lose all meaning. Those traditional gifts should be the standard, but because they are the standard, they are not necessarily symbolic - there is no commemoration in a tray of free bagels. This is why custom challenge coins can be truly meaningful for the giftee when given appropriately! It's the extra thought that counts - the extra mile taken to truly show your appreciation.

Why Give Educators Custom Challenge Coins?

As stated earlier, educators spend their careers in service to their community. Teachers work after hours, they support their students’ extracurricular activities, and they inspire young minds to achieve their goals. Custom challenge coins can boost morale by inspiring the inspirers! A challenge coin acts as a literal token of appreciation - a tangible object that represents recognition of hard work. This is also why challenge coins can be a great morale boost! Faculty and staff will feel a great sense of camaraderie when presented with these symbolic gestures.

What Should You Include on Educator Challenge Coins?

When designing custom challenge coins for teachers, there is much to consider. Should you include an image? A phrase? Should the coin be round or should the shape be less traditional? Whatever ideas you have, we at ChallengeCoins4Less.com are here to help bring them together with a quality custom challenge coin design! We offer many design options to create a unique coin for your educators.

Imagery is important in a challenge coin design. Traditional imagery for teachers includes apples, rulers, and chalk boards, but you can push the design details even further with an image of the school itself or even the mascot! Include your school’s motto or an inspirational phrase around the border of your coin to serve as a reminder of why teachers work as hard as they do for their students. Create a colorful design for an eye-catching coin and include a coin stand so that teachers can display their custom challenge coins on their desks or bookshelves.

When is the Best Time to Present Challenge Coins to Teachers?

Part of the tradition of challenge coins includes how they are presented. In the military, challenge coins are presented without much fanfare and often within a handshake, however that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case when presenting custom challenge coins to educators. You could give the coins out during events or faculty meetings, or you could make it more intimate by personally delivering a challenge coin to each individual teacher and thanking them for their service.

The timing should also be right when gifting challenge coins. You could give your faculty custom challenge coins at the beginning of the school year to set the tone or set a goal for the year. Another good time to gift challenge coins is right before winter break, which usually marks the halfway point for the school year - plus the coin doubles as a holiday gift! Teachers will return from vacation in January with renewed fervor and with their goals in mind.

Designing and gifting custom challenge coins is the perfect extra step to take when you want to recognize the service of our teachers. Get a free quote today for custom educator challenge coins for these challenging times!