Academic Awards Assembly Inspires Excellence at Lupine Hills

It pays to get good grades at .

It doesn’t hurt to test well, either. An occasional good deed or two will likely be noticed, and there’s nothing wrong with showing up on time.

In fact, all students had to do was attend Wednesday’s academic excellence award assembly to be rewarded with a chain with a “tag” bearing their name and the school’s mascot, a howling wolf, on it.

Those who excelled in the aforementioned areas, of course, got more than one.

“Many students got all five,” said first-year principal Cynthia Taylor, who designed and ordered the tags. “I really wanted to excite the children by making sure everybody got at least one. It was great seeing the kids walk around the rest of the day talking about them, and knowing they worked so hard.”

The issuing of prizes following the academic awards assembly is one of several new measures implemented by Taylor. Students earned the awards for achieving perfect attendance, demonstrating model citizenship, and for excelling in areas of language arts and math.

Tags were issued for academics if students received a certain percentage on their benchmark exams, or if they earned 3’s and 4’s on their report cards in those subjects. Good citizenship awards were given for students demonstrating lifelong learning skills such as turning in their homework on time, staying on task in class, and helping others in need.

The assembly, which coincided with the end of the first trimester, will be reprised after each successive trimester.

“This year it’s very important to me to get the students to believe that they can achieve,” Taylor said. “I want to create that sort of culture. I always talk to the kids about setting goals, envisioning them, and then rolling out the steps to implement them.”

The students weren’t the only ones to walk away from the assembly with gifts. Taylor also gave teachers gift cards to Starbucks for their efforts in aiding students.

Working with teachers is just one of Taylor’s specialties. Last year she worked as an instructional specialist helping teachers (particularly those teaching English as a second language) with professional development and educational strategies.

“It takes a partnership of all of us circling the children to make this work,” Taylor said. “That includes the parents, too.”

Parents have the opportunity to meet with Taylor personally as part of her monthly sit-and-chat community engagements. On the first Friday of each month, the principal hosts an open forum in which parents, law enforcement officials, volunteers and various members of the school district are encouraged to meet and share ideas.

“I absolutely adore getting the parents involved,” Taylor said. “You never have to beg a parent to do anything here; they’re always more than willing to help. The parents truly desire to be involved with the students.”