A new school year also means a new school for the 2018-2019 students. Benson’s upgrades have out done itself.
“I think the school’s renovations are really cool,” senior Ashleigh Henderson said. “It gives our old outdated school a new, more modern life.”
Not only have they made construction changes to the building, but they have also inserted different types of incentives, security, and student involvements.
“The district is implementing the Multi-Tiered System of Support of Behavior, also known as the MTSSB Program,” Assistant Principal Casey Campin said. “It’s our way of bringing engagement to the students.”
The changes start with the Bunny Bucks, designed to give students more incentive to follow the Bunny Code.
“The hope that the more you recognize good behavior, the more others start to recognize that good behavior is the acceptable behavior,” magnet coordinator Angela Johanek said.
They serve as a reward for good behavior. It’s expected to guide students into morally righteous path by giving them to students who are demonstrating the Bunny Code.
“The biggest thing that I want to see is those students who are doing great things be recognized for it while building their self-esteem,” Campin said. “Our staff’s continuing to let them know we appreciate what they are doing.”
The goal is to slowly demolish a lot of the inappropriate conducts in the school environment by the time the school year is coming to an end.
“We are changing the way me as a staff member and you as a student are interacting with each other by making every interaction positive,” Johanek said.
If a majority of Benson’s students are behaving accordingly, then the minority will start to seem like outcast and eventually join the majority.
“If the students who don’t care about the bunny bucks become the minority and not the expected majority, it’s amazing to see how much that’ll actually temper their behavior,” Johanek said. “Because even if they alone do not care, let’s face it, everybody watches everybody else.”
Now Benson is giving back to their students by getting paid for working hard. As long as expectations are met, then anybody has the power to get “rich.”
“You can use your bunny bucks to cut in line at lunch or to hear Jablonski sing karaoke or even wander the hallways, as long as you earn it,” said Johanek.
The Bunny Bucks cater to everyone.
“We tried to kind of tailor the needs of the academies,” Johanek said.
Despite some issues with Bunny Bucks, such as some being stolen and the lack of them being given out, they are a big hit.
Benson took the action of promoting leaders who couldn’t wait to unleash their potential for the betterment. Both Johanek and JoAnna Hale were promoted for the new school year.
Benson is only going up and refuses to look back down.