Benny Westcott
Sweet Home Junior High School on Friday, Jan. 13, rolled out a new Tiger Scholar program that has already awarded special privileges to 48 students for good behavior and academic success.
Honorees receive lanyards and badges for access to Tiger Scholar events, as well as field trips and other opportunities that may include swimming, bowling, lunch at nearby restaurants, free-time parties, ice-cream coupons and more. The badge also acts as a universal hall pass, and scholars are released early to lunch every week.
To become a Tiger Scholar, students must fill out applications detailing achievements in such areas as responsibility, respectfulness, kindness and safety. They then ask their teachers if they’re exhibiting those traits in the classroom. Their bus drivers, lunch monitors, and an administrator must also sign off. Tiger Scholars must also routinely turn in work on time and earn Bs or better in their classes.
“To be a Tiger Scholar the kids need to be exceptional in academics, behavior and responsibility,” said physical education teacher Ali Gardner, who helped spearhead the program at the junior high after seeing it implemented during her tenure at Lebanon’s Seven Oak Middle School. “We want to encourage them to continue to do the things that we expect at school. They’re already doing them – we just want them to continue to do them and recognize their good behavior. Because they’re leaders.”
“When we talk about these kids being leaders, we’re not just talking about them being leaders in the classroom,” SHJH Assistant Principal Amanda GaVette said. “We’re also talking about them being leaders outside of the class, really, around the community and in life.”
Tiger Scholar Ellie Dominy cleaned up the cafeteria’s salad bar area after some students had left it messy. Although the seventh grader had to step up her academic game to receive the honor, she was up to the challenge.
“I was trying to get my grade up to a B in math, because last quarter I had a C,” Dominy recalled. “But when Mrs. Gardner told me I had to have at least a B-minus [to be a Tiger Scholar], I had to work hard for that.”
She recalled that the resulting conversation with her math teacher about improving her grade was more of a growth experience than an uncomfortable situation.
“It was a growing thing, because I wanted to get the self-manager badge,” Dominy said. “If I wanted to get that, I had to work hard to get it.”
So she turned in extra math homework and redid problems.
“And when I worked hard for that, I got the Tiger Scholar, and I was able to get the badge to be able to do fun things,” she said.
“This is not telling kids they’re not good enough,” Principal Mark Looney said. “It’s saying they’re not ready yet.”
“It’s never a ‘no’; it’s just a ‘not-yet,'” GaVette confirmed, “because we are all growth mindset centered around here.”
“Some kids have a lot of ‘not-yets,’ and that’s OK, because now they have information on what they need to work on,” Gardner said. “By looking at this, they’re able to narrow down the areas where they’re maybe needing to focus.”
Students can reapply for Tiger Scholar status every quarter.
Gardner described the program as positive behavioral intervention and support, or PBIS, a concept that she says a lot of schools around the country use.
“We do lots of different PBIS strategies at this school,” she said. “One of the things that we’ve focused on is the area of academics and behavior. Lots of schools do [a program similar to Tiger Scholars], so we’re just borrowing ideas and tailoring it to make it work for our specific school.
“When I brought this idea to the administration, it was a resounding ‘Yes, this is great,'” she continued. “But even more important: When we rolled it out to staff, they were overwhelmingly for it. Anything revolving around kids or that’s remotely going to make our school culture and climate better, the staff [says] ‘Yes, we’re doing it,’ even if it means a little extra work.”
“We don’t ask for perfection from these Tiger Scholars,” Gardner said. “We’re just looking for consistency. We have a lot of great kids here who are already doing the right thing all the time. This is to acknowledge and reward that. But also, for the kids that maybe need some motivation to make better choices, this might be the thing that helps them make a better choice.”
Next month, Tiger Scholars will embark on a field trip to the Rio Theatre for a screening of 2000’s “Remember the Titans.” The school is sponsoring the field trip, while some community sponsors stepped up to provide concessions, according to Gardner.
Until then, Tiger Scholars will continue to enjoy the perks that come with recognition.
“They hold that badge proud when they’re walking down the hall to go to the bathroom or heading out to lunch early,” GaVette said. “There’s a lot of pride in that.”
Any student is welcome to apply to join the ranks.
“A school full of Tiger Scholars would be grand,” Gardner said.