Gold and Silver Award winners at Jefferson Middle School were rewarded for being present at school and being responsible, respectful, and safe with a trip to the Russell Roller Rink. The reward program is one of several ways Jefferson staff are looking to engage students and families.

It’s been an exciting start of the school year for the students, staff, and families of Jefferson Middle School.

Staff members at Jefferson have been working diligently to create exciting opportunities to keep students and their families engaged. Among the most notable is the school’s Gold and Silver Reward Program.

The program rewards Jefferson students who are attending school regularly and following school rules and expectations. Students earn gold cards when they’ve had zero absences, zero tardies, zero referrals for the month and silver cards when they’ve had no more than one absence or tardy as well as no referrals.

Students are also expected to be responsible, respectful, and safe. The program refreshes every month, so if a student gets sick or has a behavior slip up, they still can earn rewards the following month.

“Outside of flu season, this program has cut the percentage of our students who are chronically absent in half,” said Leslie Melquist, Jefferson principal. “The program continues to be a highlight for students each month and it puts them in charge of earning their rewards.”

Already, gold card winners had the opportunity to take advantage of the nice fall weather during a day of mini-golfing at the Lakewood Golf Center and roller-skating at the Russell Roller Rink in Russell, Pa.

“Students always look forward to the exciting things we get to do out of the building as part of this program,” Melquist said. “Students who earn so many gold rewards throughout the school year will also have the chance to go to Six Flags Darien Lake for the day!”

The school’s FACE — Family and Community Engagement — Committee has also been hard at work, organizing events that welcomes the school community in the building.

“The main goal of our FACE committee is to bring our school, families, and community together to promote the success of our students,” said fifth grade teacher and committee member Cassidy Siebert. “We work on creating educational, engaging, and exciting opportunities to build relationships and support our school’s community.”

The committee has already sponsored three different events. Among them, a fifth grade transition night that allowed students and families to meet their new teachers, take a tour of the school building, and establish the connection between home and school.

The FACE committee also redesigned the school’s open house, turning it into a “Meet and Greet” that not only allowed families to meet their students’ teachers, but also incorporate organizations from across the community.

“In the gym, we had over 30 school-based clubs and outside agencies that had set up tables to promote the services they can provide to students after school hours,” FACE committee member Katie Andalora said. “This was a great way to encourage more students to become more involved in extracurricular activities.”

The school’s Fall Fest on Oct. 20 was also a hit.

“We had over 400 people present,” Siebert said. “Students and their families were given a bingo board of activities that marked their participation. We had a variety of activities such as face painting, a photo booth, balloon animals, haunted hallways, crafts, health snack options, fresh popped popcorn, and more. The hallways were filled!”

Moving forward, the committee will continue their work throughout the school year and will next look to help support the One District, One Book project that engages the elementary and middle schools within Jamestown Public Schools, as well as other exciting activities.