promoting/rewarding school spirit

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Comment by Cindy Jorgensen on September 16, 2009 at 12:00pm

Last year at our middle school, the principal and PTSA president really wanted to the students to get excited about their academics, school pride, and community involvement. After talking to the PTSA Executive Board and the membership we purchased three spirit sticks with each one representing one of the categories. The parents agreed to chaperone assemblies, as to not create greater stress on school personnel. The student body was split into PODS or groups and at the assemblies the spirit sticks were given to those PODS. Feathers in the PODS color were added to the spirit stick and the sticks were displayed. We saw an improvement in areas of academics and school pride. However, we were even more astonished by the improvement in community involvement. At the beginning of the our community involvement was only a little bit; however by the end of the year almost the entire student body was able to stand because their were involved. (Sports, clubs, volunteering, etc.) We were thrilled to see the students take ownership and also the pride they had because they accomplished it and were acknowledged by their school, community, and especially by their peers!

Comment by Michella Zoll on August 31, 2009 at 9:27pm

We do something similar. At our school every Friday is Spirit Day and students are encouraged to wear their cougar t-shirts or the school colors. Once a month (or quarter) we have Super Spirit Friday. Students wearing their cougar shirts receive a free popcorn coupon and the top two classes with the most school spirit (just school color) receive popsicles.

Comment by Tammy Reynolds on August 17, 2009 at 1:21pm

Please share what your group does to promote or reward school spirit. We used to have Falcon Fridays and the students were encouraged to wear school shirts. In the lunch line the school mascot would reward students with a piece of candy for wearing their school pride. I am hoping to implement something along this same idea, maybe a falcon pride coupon for teachers to distribute on Fridays and then the coupons could be depsited into a container in the hall and we may do weekly/monthly drawings for prizes. Please share! Thanks