“They’re Being Kids Again”: How Grove City Christian is Rebuilding Community Through Digital Formation
Like many schools, Grove City Christian was searching for ways to navigate the growing challenges around student technology, but the conversation became bigger than screens. Grove City wanted to strengthen relationships, build healthier habits, and create a more connected school culture.
That search led them to JOMO.
Building a Culture of Connection
For Grove City, digital wellness wasn’t just about limiting technology. It was about helping students reconnect with one another.
“We’re really trying to create a culture and a community that loves the Lord and loves each other,” Dave Muschott, Head of School, explained. “Part of that community is literally sitting down and talking.”
Since implementing JOMO alongside updated cellphone policies, the school has seen noticeable changes in student interaction.
“We’ve seen our lunchrooms become much more interactive,” Dave said. “Instead of 200 heads facing down looking at screens, they’re interacting. They’re being kids again.”
The shift reinforced what school leaders hoped for all along: more conversation and more presence, paving the path for stronger relationships among students.
Listen to Grove City’s full story in this video.
A Team Approach to Digital Wellness
Implementation at Grove City was intentionally collaborative. Using the JOMO(campus) Playbook, they created a team of JOMO Champions who helped lead the rollout from multiple perspectives: supporting faculty, communicating with parents, and addressing the impact screens were having on students.
“That three-pronged approach was really, really helpful,” Laura Kempf, one of Grove City’s JOMO Champions, shared.
Parent communication, faculty conversations, and professional development all became part of the process.
Laura described JOMO’s professional development resources as “kind of the sleeper hit” for faculty. One immediate outcome came after a staff discussion around JOMO’s lesson on “Personal Digital Wellness for Educators.” This led the school to create a clearer email response policy that helps staff maintain healthier boundaries outside work hours.
“It just provides clarity for everybody,” Laura explained.
The Power of Shared Language
Before partnering with JOMO, Grove City leaders felt many people sensed screens were affecting students negatively but didn’t always know how to talk about it constructively.
“It [JOMO] gives more vocabulary to the conversation,” Laura said. “It gives us that shared language.”
That shared understanding helped conversations move beyond simply saying screens were a problem and toward building practical, healthier habits together.
Dave emphasized that partnership has been especially valuable for families.
“At our school, it’s parents, church, and homes,” he said. “If they don’t all work together cooperatively, then it doesn’t really work.”
Having JOMO provide trusted resources and reinforcement for parents helped strengthen that alignment.
More Than a Technology Conversation
For Grove City Christian, digital wellness is ultimately about much more than devices or screen time. It’s about helping students pay attention to each other again. It’s about protecting community. And it’s about creating a school culture where students and staff can truly be present.
As Dave put it,
“Getting a handle on the screen issue is a key component in today’s educational system.”
At Grove City, that work is already helping students rediscover something simple but powerful: what it means to just be kids again.
If your school is wrestling with challenges around screens, student connection, and school culture, we would love to partner with you. Start planning your 2026 digital formation now. Book a discovery call with our team today.
