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Eight Creative Ideas for a school “Wall of Achievement”

Leila Giles on April 4, 2025

Celebrating student success is about more than ribbons and certificates. It’s about building confidence, fostering motivation, and reinforcing effort. A thoughtfully designed “Wall of Achievement” can help create a school culture that values growth and encourages students to reach their full potential.

At AGC Education, we believe recognition should be both meaningful and visible. Whether you’re looking to upgrade your existing achievement wall or start from scratch, these creative, classroom-friendly ideas will help you highlight the amazing things your students are accomplishing.

1. Themed Achievement Wall Display Ideas

A theme brings personality to your wall of achievement while simultaneously tying it all together. Try categories like “Rising Stars,” “Trailblazers,” or “Champions of Kindness” to reflect your school’s values. Use coordinated signage and student-created art to reinforce the theme.

AGC Tip: Use a cut-out machine to easily create clean, bold lettering for your headers, themes, or student nameplates.

2. Interactive Digital Displays

Modern recognition walls don’t only have to include paper and photos. For extra flair, incorporate a screen that rotates student accomplishments, videos of performances, or highlights from recent events. This adds movement and captures students’ attention throughout the day.

Bonus: Pair with an AGC poster printer to create complementary visuals or QR codes that link to student portfolios or class projects.

3. Personalized Student Spotlights

Dedicate space to student profiles, including photos, short bios, and highlights of academic or extracurricular achievements. This kind of student photo wall idea not only recognizes individual effort but also helps build community and connection throughout your school.

Optional Add-On: Consider adding a rotating “Student of the Month” section that lets peers nominate classmates based on values like teamwork or creativity.

4. Collaborative Student Work Walls

Turn your wall of achievement into a showcase for collaborative projects. Shine a spotlight on group efforts in science, social studies, or art with concise descriptions of the process and photos of the final outcome. This is an excellent way to implement student work wall ideas that celebrate creativity while displaying the fruits of your students’ learning efforts.

5. Timeline of Success

Create a chronological display of achievements throughout the school year. This could be an assortment of spelling bee winners, reading milestones, or robotics competitions—all of which create a timeline that adds visual interest and shows progress over time. It’s a great way to show students how their peers contributed to the school’s collective growth (and get inspired to add their own chapter).

6. Multimedia Recognition Walls

Mix it up to keep the board interesting by combining different media types. Add photographs, written reflections, and student-created artwork to create a visually diverse and engaging wall of accomplishments. For an added bonus, tie in QR codes that link to videos, digital portfolios, or class blogs.

This approach is an outstanding option, especially for schools integrating technology or project-based learning into their curriculum.

7. Rotating Displays

Keep your achievement wall fresh and engaging by swapping out content regularly. This could be weekly, monthly, or anything in between. Routine updates ensure that more students are recognized throughout the year and keep excitement high.

Use vinyl lettering or printed elements that only take a few minutes to swap with AGC’s vinyl cutters or printers—perfect for updating content without recreating the whole display.

8. Community and Alumni Connections

Invite past students, parents, or community partners to share encouraging notes or personal accomplishments. Adding these stories to your wall of achievement connects current students to those who’ve come before them, reinforcing a school-wide culture of aspiration and success.

Bring Your Wall of Achievement to Life

Designing a meaningful achievement wall doesn’t require a full renovation, just intention, creativity, and the right tools. Whether you’re building a simple student photo wall, a rotating project showcase, or a multimedia student work wall, recognition can—and should be—a regular part of the school experience.

AGC Education provides classroom-ready tools like poster printers, cut-out machines, and sublimation stations that make it easier than ever to bring these achievement wall ideas to life. Explore how our solutions can support your school’s recognition goals because when students see their efforts on display, they rise to meet their potential.

5 of The Best Christmas Tumbler Gift Ideas

Larry Girty on December 4, 2024

Did you know the average American spends $826 on Christmas each year—and $500 of that is just on gifts for family? And that doesn’t count the many seasonal expenses that aren’t technically Christmas-specific.

Amid the commercial hubbub, it can be easy to forget simple truths about the season. The winter holidays are meant to be about connection with our friends and loved ones. Given that, despite the emphasis on extravagance, often it’s the simple presents that stand out.

A sublimation printed tumbler may not seem impressive at first glance. Yet, when given thoughtfully, this simple, affordable piece makes a memorable gift.

What Makes A Sublimation Printed Tumbler A Great Gift?

Tumblers and drinkware are often unexpected hits at Christmas. Here’s what makes them such great presents for almost anyone on your list.

Useful

Did you know a healthy adult should drink 11 – 15 cups of water per day? Most people don’t feel thirsty until they’re already somewhat dehydrated, and roughly 1 out of 5 adults are chronically dehydrated.

The best way to stay hydrated is to keep water on your person and drink it regularly throughout the day. With a lightweight, portable drink tumbler, it’s easy! Everyone needs hydration; everyone could use a tumbler.

Eco-Friendly

Environmental consciousness is more important than ever. Over 60 million plastic water bottles are thrown away every day in the United States. Fortunately, we can all do our part to reduce waste with reusable packaging. Tumblers make sustainability a little easier.

Personal

Personalization shows how much you know and care about the person you’re giving the gift to. The recipient’s name, what they like, and even memorable quotes or inside jokes shared with them can all be memorialized on a personalized tumbler.

Top 5 Trendy Design Ideas For Christmas-Themed Tumbler Gifts

Incorporating popular, trendy, or iconic design choices can take a sublimation tumbler to the next level. Try one of these seven ideas to elevate your Christmas-themed drinkware gift.

1. Biophilia

Biophilia is the love of nature. Designs that evoke the natural world, or cultivate a sense of harmony with nature, are perennially popular. They’re also trending upward, with biophilic design showing up in fashion forecasts for interior design, apparel, and even dishware.

Biophilic designs for Christmas tumblers draw on the winter scenery most associated with the holiday. Consider taking inspiration from macro photography of frost, a heartwarming image of birds in the snow, or tumbler wrap designs created from winter pine forest landscapes.

To incorporate biophilic elements, use creative commons or public domain winter nature photography, or take photos of your own neighborhood’s winter wonderland.

2. Color Layering With Split-Complementary Palettes

Color layering is a design trend evoking texture and depth in two-dimensional images. Some of the most popular color layering modes include alternative color palettes, including split-complementary colors.

Split complementary color palettes begin with two colors opposite of the color wheel (say, red and green), then split one of those colors to include the hues of its next-door neighbors.

This winter hydrangea image uses a split complementary color palette of varied gold and violet hues.

In a column for Shutterstock, graphic designer Grace Fussel recommends ten unexpected, elegant color palettes for Christmas designs, including several split-complementary options: “Cocktail Party,” “Dark Velvet,” and “Pink Glacier,” among others.

3. Retro Vibes

Nostalgia is part and parcel of the holiday season. One great way to weave it into your designs? Get inspired by retro and vintage aesthetics—from Christmas cards to displays. Pour through the free-to-use Vintage Christmas Card Collection over at RawPixel. You can download and resize any of the images to use them as-is, or you can use them as inspiration for your original design.

4. Personal Monograms, Notes & Sketches

Personalizing a design can transform it from something nice to something wonderful.

One personalization option is to take a pre-existing holiday-themed design with a blank space, and then fill it in with a handwritten note or sketch.

You could superimpose the note or drawing by creating it on blank paper, scanning it, removing the scanned piece’s background, and then uploading the piece as an element to your design software. Clicking and dragging the element over the black space in the holiday design lets you merge the two.

Alternatively, you can use a festive font to type the gift recipient’s name or initials on your design.

5. Maximalist Menagerie (With Glitter!)

Maximalist design means going all-out. Get festive with bold, multi-featured designs incorporating a wide swatch of elements, embellishments, and textures.

Some of the most popular maximalist design tactics include using visual illustration styles that create a sense of depth, whether it’s texture and renaissance shading or quirky 3D effects. Holographic design elements are another fun maximalist mode.

How To Make Sublimation Tumbler Gifts As A Class Project

Creating a sublimation tumbler can be a meaningful personal project. It’s also an activity the whole class can enjoy!

To engage the whole class in this kind of project, choose a set of drinkware sublimation blanks. Look for tumblers, bottles, or glasses coated to enable sublimation printing, ideally made of a durable, dishwasher-safe material.

Make sure your classroom’s sublimation printer has an attachment compatible with the blank you’ve chosen.

Then, encourage students to create original designs. If they make designs with traditional materials, use a high-resolution scanner to digitize them. The digital designs can be saved as PNG files, to be compatible with the sublimation printer.

Students who don’t want to create their own designs might be allowed to choose to download a Christmas or holiday-themed design from a free library. Popular, free libraries of downloadable design files include DesignBundles.net, CreativeFabrica.com, and the “freebies” page on TheHunryJPEG.com.

Make Unforgettable Sublimation Tumblers This Christmas With AGC Education

At AGC Education, we believe technology should support student’s whole selves. Our classroom products are designed to empower students to reach their full potential through creativity, design skills, and problem-solving.

We know holistic education solutions can’t be one-size-fits-all. That’s why we offer technology customizable to your classroom needs, and full-service technical support for every single one of our clients.

If you’re interested in bringing sublimation projects to your classroom—or any other creative technology—contact us at 1 (800) 535-7553. Or, reach out for more information at [email protected].

10 Cool Laser Engraving Projects for Students

Larry Girty on November 1, 2024

Laser engravers have gained traction in educational settings for their ability to transform digital designs into physical creations. It marries technology with hands-on learning across a variety of subjects, including art, design, engineering, and even history. These machines let students explore their creativity through technology, helping them build skills that are both fun and useful in the real world.

These machines use laser beams to create permanent, precise designs on various materials, including wood, glass, metal, and plastic. They’re incredibly precise, allowing you to create beautifully intricate designs for various uses.

Whether you’re a teacher looking for engaging classroom projects or a school administrator looking into laser engraving for various school-related projects, a laser engraver can be a fantastic addition to your collection. There’s no end to the creative potential, whether you want to revamp the school with new signs or create branded merch to sell at school events.

Here are a few cool laser engraving projects students may enjoy:

1. Personalized Name Tag

While personalized name tags aren’t the most exciting option on this list, they make a great starter project. It’s simple and relatively quick but gives your students the chance to tinker with the machine and familiarize themselves with how everything works.

Now, that said, the name tag doesn’t have to be boring. Let your students get creative with different fonts, graphics, and layouts, using vector-based design software to develop their tags. Once they’re done, use the tags for school events, science fairs, or even to just label items and belongings in the classroom. It’s the perfect starter project that is both approachable and practical.

2. Customized Key Chains

Custom keychains are similar to name tags in that they’re 100% beginner-friendly while leaving plenty of room for creativity. Let your students craft keychains with their favorite quotes, initials, or logos. Let them tinker with different materials, such as leather, wood, or acrylic, if you have the materials.

This project is both fun and easy, making it a great first project, especially for younger students new to laser engraving. Since the finished product is fairly small, they don’t take too long to produce.

If you want to take things to the next level, let your students create a custom keychain as a gift for a family or friend (this project is an excellent choice around the holidays).

3. Engraved Wooden Coasters

As your students become more familiar with the laser engraver and vector design software, work up to wooden coasters. These can be a bit challenging for newbies, especially if you go with more intricate patterns, but it’s a good fit for students with a bit more experience.

Since wooden coasters are bigger than name tags and keychains, there’s more room for more intricate patterns, logos, or even custom artwork. This project encourages your students to think about the balance between aesthetics and functionality. Plus, since the coasters will need sanding and sealing to become fully functional and durable, this is a great time to integrate a lesson about woodworking.

You could even tie this project into a lesson about material science or entrepreneurship, especially since the engraved coasters can be sold at school fundraisers.

4. Classroom Signage

While creating keychains, coasters, and other custom projects your students can take home is both fun and rewarding, you can also go a more functional and school-centric route. Have your students engrave classroom signs, or, if you’re feeling motivated, revamp the signs for the entire school.

Engrave the signs on wood, acrylic, or plastic sheets, allowing your students to experiment with different fonts and graphics to ensure the signs are visually appealing. Challenge them to stick to the same theme to keep things cohesive across the entire school, tying elements of problem-solving and teamwork into the lesson.

Or, let them get creative and pick different themes for different parts of the classroom or school. You could stick to the same general theme, letting students choose the specifics. For example, the umbrella theme might be Disney- or Western-based, with each area of the school or classroom featuring different characters or cowpoke-themed elements.

5. Laser-Cut Puzzle Sets

Puzzle sets are a bit more challenging, making these projects a great fit for older students who are ready to take on more complex design tasks. Precision is a must to ensure the pieces fit together perfectly, so this project is no easy feat. Using a laser engraver, your students can create customized puzzles by engraving and cutting interlocking pieces from wood, cardboard, or acrylic.

The puzzles could feature educational tools, such as geography maps, or purely for entertainment, complete with custom artwork. If you go the educational route, you could incorporate the finished puzzles into lessons on geometry, design, or even psychology since the puzzles require critical thinking and spatial awareness.

6. Engraved Jewelry

If you teach a fashion, sewing, or accessory design class, incorporate the engraver into a lesson on engraved jewelry. Use the machine to create custom pendants, earrings, or bracelets from materials like leather, acrylic, or even thin sheets of wood.

Once engraved, have your students assemble the pieces into wearable jewelry. You won’t need much for this—simple jewelry-making supplies will do.

This project is great for encouraging attention to detail while introducing product design. It’s hands-on, with a tactile element that demands focus and precision to ensure a beautiful result.

If you want to incorporate additional concepts, like branding, consumer products, market trends, and other entrepreneurship topics, this project is a great time to do it!

7. 3D Model Engravings

Engravers aren’t only capable of creating pretty jewelry, keychains, and coasters—they can also be handy tools in creating 3D model engravings. Laser engravers can help communicate lessons in architecture or engineering, encouraging students to use critical thinking skills while cutting parts for models of buildings, bridges, or even vehicles.

Once all pieces are cut and engraved, the sheets can be assembled into a 3D structure. Since each piece must be cut to precise measurements to ensure a snug fit, this project is excellent for emphasizing the importance of precise measurements and technical drawing. It can also better explain lessons on prototyping and scale modeling.

8. Engraved Phone Stands

Laser-engraved phone stands are another intriguing project that combines functionality with style. Let your students craft custom stands from acrylic or wood, designing each piece to match specific aesthetic preferences.

Incorporate a math and engineering aspect by having your students craft the stands to match their phones’ specific measurements. Encourage them to think about ergonomics and product design, ensuring the final product not only looks good but serves a practical purpose.

9. Personalized School Supplies

If you’re searching for free laser engraving projects, this one might be a great fit. If your budget doesn’t allow for elaborate projects with fancy materials, have your students practice engraving on their own school supplies. This is a great way to teach them how to use engravers (and the many lessons that can go with them) without having to purchase substantial amounts of material. Plus, it allows them to personalize their own stuff, which can be an appealing factor.

Have your students craft designs to engrave on their pencil cases, rulers, notebooks, and similar items, allowing them to incorporate different themes, names, or motivational quotes. Tie the project into discussions about personalization in product design or the importance of branding.

10. School Merchandise

Many of the projects on this list can be tweaked to create school merchandise that can be sold at fundraisers and events, such as plays or sports games. Have your students create themed designs for various products you can sell at those events.

You might engrave the school mascot onto keychains, wooden coasters, school supplies, or even phone stands. Or, stick to simple, classy designs that can still be sold at those events (but aren’t school-themed), such as jewelry, holiday-themed coasters, or personalized keychains.

These projects can be an excellent way to teach lessons about entrepreneurship, design, engineering, and much more while making sellable items that benefit the school!

Create Beautiful Laser-Engraved Products With AGC Education

Laser engraving opens up a world of creative possibilities for students. It combines the best of technical skills with artistic expression while also leaving room for all sorts of lessons on everything from entrepreneurship to fashion design to engineering. Whether you choose to have your students make personalized keychains, design intricate puzzles, or build model structures, these projects provide hands-on learning opportunities that are both fun and educational.
If you’re ready to incorporate laser engraving projects into your classroom or school, AGC Education has the equipment and materials you’ll need. Our Laser Lab Desktop Laser Engraver and Cutter is designed specifically for schools, and our wide range of laser engraving supplies is ready to help you get started. Contact us today to get a quote.

9 Engraving Ideas Using Tabletop Laser Cutter

Leila Giles on July 2, 2024

There are all sorts of tools and machines that can help with the creation process of various custom items, from jewelry to abstract art. Tabletop laser cutters are a staple in the mix, captivating artists, hobbyists, and professionals alike with their ability to customize a diverse range of materials. These machines are compact yet powerful, making precision engraving doable for everyone.

What is a Tabletop Laser Cutter?

Tabletop laser cutters are compact machines that cut, engrave, and etch designs onto a medium using a focused laser beam. Unlike traditional cutting tools, these cutters are incredibly precise and able to handle ultra-intricate patterns with ease.

They’re the perfect addition to a creative workshop—they’re designed to park on a desk or workbench, so you won’t need much room to get started creating with one.

Benefits of Tabletop Laser Cutters

Tabletop laser cutters offer all sorts of advantages, including:

Compact: The compact design of tabletop laser cutters is a key selling point. You won’t need much space, so they’re perfect for snug studios, small businesses, and hobbyists.
Precise: Tabletop cutters are incredibly precise. They’re accurate enough to create detailed and intricate designs and inscriptions, whether you’re creating a delicate font or a fine lace-look design.
Versatile: These cutters can handle all sorts of materials, including wood, acrylic, metal, leather, and glass. So, whether you’re a mixed medium artist or want to tinker with different materials, these cutters can handle it.
Easy to use: Using these compact machines is incredibly easy. They’re designed with user-friendly interfaces and software, so while there’s a slight learning curve, using them is doable, even for complete newbies.
Cost-effective: Industrial laser cutters are pricey and illogical for smaller creative operations, especially for small businesses and personal use. Tabletop models are a cost-effective alternative that lets you create to your heart’s content without the significant investment of an industrial machine.

9 Tabletop Laser Cutter Engraving Ideas

Tabletop laser cutters are versatile enough to create all sorts of items, from jewelry to custom art. Here are a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing:

1. Custom Jewelry

Laser cutters are often used to create custom jewelry. They can handle most metals with ease, engraving your personal designs into your chosen pieces. You can create custom necklace charms, bracelets, and rings, adding names, initials, meaningful dates, or intricate patterns.

Your custom pieces can be perfect for adding to your own jewelry collection, gifting to family and friends, or even selling as part of your small business!

2. Personalized Home Decor

Ever looked at an engraved piece of home decor and wanted to create your own? A laser cutter can help you do that. They’re an ideal tool for creating customized home decor that matches your specific ideas and preferences, allowing you to harness your creative juices and create pieces that reflect you.

They can help you transform your home with custom coasters, wall art, picture frames, and more. For example, you could use the cutter to engrave your family’s last name on a frame for the year’s family photo. Or, you might craft a custom set of coasters with a quirky design featuring inside jokes for your friend’s birthday. The possibilities are endless!

3. Custom Kitchenware

While kitchenware might seem like a basic use of your laser cutter, personalized kitchenware is incredibly popular, especially for gifting to the baker in your family. Use your laser cutter to add a personalized flair to functional kitchenware, making those everyday pieces special.

You could engrave a cutting board with your sibling’s wedding name, engraving their last name as a cherished memento they can bring with them. Or, you might add a personal touch to serving trays, utensils, and other kitchen items by adding names, recipes, or fun kitchen-related designs. It’s up to you!

4. Unique Business Cards

People receive business cards all the time, often losing them in the mass that they get at events, meetings, and similar functions. With your laser cutter, you can craft business cards that stand out, showcasing your business’s offerings in a clever and eye-catching way.

Use the tabletop laser cutter to engrave your logo, contact information, and designs that match your business. Use a color scheme to enhance the elements, and if you’re going for a real eye-catcher, add metallic components to complement the engraved parts.

5. Customized Gifts

While many of the ideas on this list are giftable, the list of gift-worthy items you can create with a laser cutter goes on. Get creative! Craft a custom keychain, engrave a unique design on a phone case, or add personal flair to a custom bookmark.

The design possibilities are endless—add special messages, names, dates, or intricate designs to make each gift special.

6. Custom Awards and Trophies

If you’re using the laser cutter for your business, you could create all sorts of intriguing awards for corporate events, sports competitions, or special recognitions. Use the laser cutter to engrave trophies, plaques, and medals.

You could create custom medals for a school, engraving the name of the winner and the school’s logo. Or, you might create a funny trophy as part of a team bonding event.

7. Engraved Stationery

With a laser cutter, you can take your stationery game to the next level. Creating intricate custom stationery can take lots of time, but with a laser cutter, the process becomes much easier. You can engrave all sorts of stationery, such as notebooks, pens, and planners, with names, initials, and motivational quotes.

These make perfect gifts for professionals, students, and anyone else who appreciates organization!

8. Custom Signage

Need to craft a visually appealing sign for your business, office, home, or event? Use your tabletop laser cutter! It’s a quick and simple way to create custom signage, allowing you to do it all on your own without having to enlist professional assistance.

Engrave a nameplate, house sign, desk sign, or whatever else you can think of. For a personal touch, add detailed designs, addresses, or professional titles.

9. Creative Art Pieces

If you’re artistically inclined, use your laser cutter to craft creative art pieces. You can make everything from abstract designs to detailed landscapes to portraits. While you’ll still need to craft the design, the laser cutter can make the actual creation process much easier.

These pieces can be the perfect addition to your home decor, artistic portfolios, or even your art business!

Craft Personalized Products With a Tabletop Laser Cutter From AGC Education

Whether you want to engrave a meaningful date on a locket or turn up your creativity with an abstract art piece, a tabletop laser cutter can help. These machines are incredibly useful, allowing you to create whatever you can dream up. Design it in the cutter’s software, then use the machine to bring your dreams to life!

Ready to start creating with a tabletop laser cutter? At AGC Education, we have everything you’ll need to get started, from the Laser Lab Desktop Laser Engraver Cutter to the supplies to start creating. Contact us today at 1 (800) 535-7553 to learn more today!